President Biden was blasted for crediting his natural rights to being a “child of God” in defense of abortion, with one critic saying he “just made the case” against the practice.
Biden made the remarks on Wednesday as he discussed the leak of a draft of a Supreme Court decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade and recalled his opposition to Judge Robert Bork’s nomination to the Supreme Court in 1987.
“Bork believed the only reason you had any inherent rights was because the government gave them to you,” Biden said.
The president then pointed out that in his questioning of Bork as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he said: “I believe I have the rights that I have not because the government gave it to me, which you believe, but because I’m just a child of God; I exist.”
Bork was nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1987 to succeed Justice Lewis Powell, who had announced his retirement from the high court. His nomination was rejected by the Senate, and ultimately Anthony Kennedy was confirmed to the seat.
President Biden made the remarks when discussing his opposition to Robert Bork’s nomination to the Supreme Court. EPA
Beth Baumann, a political fundraiser who previously worked at Town Hall.com, said on Twitter that the president “literally made the case against abortion.”
Jerry Dunleavy, a reporter at the Washington Examiner, also took Biden to task for his reference to rights.
“Biden says there are ‘rights I have, not because the government gave them to [m]e, but just because I’m a child of God, [because] I exist.’ He makes this argument to support the right to abort unborn children of God which exist.”
President Biden was widely attacked by opponents of abortion rights for his statement. Getty Images
Dr. Alveda King, the niece of civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King, said Biden, a Catholic who routinely attends Mass, is out of touch with American women.
“The president has obviously not heard the pleas of the women of America. He cannot hear the cries of the babies in the womb. He doesn’t know how much fathers regret lost fatherhood,” King said Thursday on “Fox & Friends.”
“And so there are so many proofs and evidence so much evidence that abortion certainly is bad for the baby, the human dignity, and the human rights of the baby, the pain and suffering of the mother, the father’s cries and all of the problems that follow abortion. He can offer Americans something better than abortion. If he would just take the time and be present,” she said.
Bishop Joseph Strickland of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, said Biden is flat-out wrong.
“Mr President you are wrong, completely wrong, and as you continue to push this agenda you push the division in this nation to the breaking point. I pray that your hardened heart will open to the sanctity of life for the unborn child & for the mother,” Strickland wrote on Twitter.
Biden has described himself as a supporter of Roe v. Wade but has also said he respects the right of others to make up their own minds.
“I respect people who think that — who don’t support Roe v. Wade; I respect their views,” the president told reporters in September 2021.
While President Biden is a supporter of Roe v. Wade, he has said he respects those with the opposite view. AP
“I respect them — they — those who believe life begins at the moment of conception and all. I respect that. Don’t agree, but I respect that. I’m not going to impose that on people.”