Vice President Joe Biden continues to support the Hyde Amendment but would be open to repealing it if Roe vs. Wade is threatened the campaign said Wednesday.
That might sound confusing but it’s exactly where the Biden campaign lands on the issue.
Biden’s campaign told NBC News he continued to support the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of federal funds to pay for abortions except in case of rape, incest, or to save the life of a woman.
The Hyde Amendment has been enshrined in Congress as a prominent pro-life position preventing taxpayers from directly funding abortions.
But in May, Biden told an ACLU volunteer that he was willing to repeal the Hyde Amendment.
“Yes … It can’t stay,” he said, when asked if he would commit to abolishing the Hyde Amendment.
When approached by NBC News, the campaign said that Biden “would be open to repealing Hyde if abortion avenues currently protected under Roe were threatened.”
But Planned Parenthood was not pleased with Biden’s murky response on the issue.
“The unfair Hyde Amendment makes it so that those who have the least end up having to pay the most to access abortion, and those who are service members or live on reservations are often left with no coverage for abortion care,” Planned Parenthood Action Fund Executive Director Kelly Robinson said in a statement on NBC.
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