Neither side of the abortion divide would probably design the exact candidate they have in 2024.
In the summer of 2019, as a crowded Democratic primary was picking up speed, Joe Biden was on the defensive, pummeled by abortion-rights groups and his opponents for his support of the Hyde Amendment, a measure that prohibits the use of federal funds for most abortions.
He reversed his position, but the episode underlined his wobbly standing in the eyes of abortion-rights activists as he faced off in 2020 against Donald Trump, who became a hero of the anti-abortion movement by using his presidency to appoint Supreme Court justices who appeared likely to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Now, in 2024, the tables have turned.
This week, it was Trump angering abortion opponents as he sought to wash his hands of the matter and leave it to the states, while President Biden depicted himself as a direct champion of the cause, releasing a stark TV ad and excoriating Trump as he sought to position the issue at the center of his re-election campaign.
“Scripture advises us, in Psalm 146 actually, to not place our trust in princes or kings or candidates for that matter,” said F. Brent Leatherwood, the president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, which is the policy wing of the Southern Baptist Convention. “These are people that are unreliable and inconsistent.”
Read the full New York Times article here.
