Joe Biden, a devout Catholic who has not always been a fierce supporter of access to voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion), took on the role of the first defender of the right to abortion in the United States with a conviction which does not preclude a certain sense of political expediency.
When she read a statement released Tuesday by the Democratic president, after explosive revelations about the intentions of the very conservative Supreme Court, here is what jumped out at Morgan Hopkins, one of the leaders of the NGO All Above All , which defends abortion.
“It’s the first time, I think he uses the word + abortion + in a statement, it’s important,” she told AFP, welcoming the “strong response” of the president.
– The choice of words –
In fact, Joe Biden has used this word before, but very rarely, in statements signed by the president – preferring to mention the “right of women to choose” or “reproductive health”.
The reaction of activist Morgan Hopkins, however, is indicative of the perception left by the 79-year-old Democrat, whose position on abortion has evolved significantly during his long political career.
On Tuesday, he unambiguously called access to abortion a “fundamental” right, calling on Americans to vote to defend it in the legislative elections scheduled for November.
The Politico site revealed the day before a draft decision of the Supreme Court. The high court is preparing according to this text, which is not its final decision, to unbolt a case law of 1973 guaranteeing the right to abortion throughout the territory.
This would prevent millions of women from accessing voluntary termination of pregnancy or would complicate their process, by validating restrictions imposed by half of the American states.
But Joe Biden has not always been a fierce supporter of access to abortion.
– “Tragedy” –
The former senator had supported in 1982 a legislative attempt to challenge the famous “Roe vs Wade” case law of 1973.
He has long been hostile to any federal funding for abortions and said again in 2006: “I don’t see abortion as a choice or a right, I think it’s still a tragedy” calling for “focus on the means of limiting the number” of voluntary interruptions of pregnancy.
From now on, Joe Biden defends without weakening the right of women to choose, attracting the wrath of the American Catholic clergy. As president, he lifted administrative and financial obstacles to abortion put in place by his predecessor Donald Trump.
And he intends to respond by administrative and regulatory means to a reversal of the Supreme Court.
Activists criticize him, however, for not having fought hard enough for a federal law that would have made it possible to anticipate a reversal of the Supreme Court while crushing the legislation passed by several conservative states.
“There was a vote (on this subject at the beginning of March, editor’s note) and it failed”, for lack of a sufficient majority of the Democrats in the Senate, his spokeswoman Jen Psaki recalled on Tuesday, sweeping away the criticism.
Beyond convictions, the leader of the Democrats seems to have smelled, in the shock caused by the revelations of Politico, the possibility of a new dynamic for the campaign for the midterm elections.
– “Galvanize” –
This ballot, traditionally unfavorable to the president’s party, seems particularly badly off to the camp of Joe Biden, whose confidence rating is eaten away by a surge of inflation experienced by the United States.
Abortion rights advocacy “can galvanize voters around Democratic candidates,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond.
Especially since the majority of Americans are in favor of the existence of a right to abortion, according to recent polls.
But in a country where partisan divisions have become insurmountable, this mobilization can also be true for the Republicans, points out the academic.
Abolition of the constitutional right to abortion would be a historic victory for them – and a reason for satisfaction for Donald Trump, who has appointed three of the six current justices of the Supreme Court, giving him a resolutely conservative turn.
“There was a silly debate among Democrats about whether to respond to Republicans’ ‘culture war’. That debate ended with this leak to the press. We have no choice but to fight back.” , wrote for his part Dan Pfeiffer, former adviser to Barack Obama, Tuesday in a post on the internet.