Planned Parenthood endorses Biden for president

Planned Parenthood Action Fund endorsed Joe Biden for president Monday in hopes that he will roll back actions taken by the Trump administration against abortion rights.

The endorsement, though unsurprising, comes after a primary in which Biden was pressed by those on the left over his long and varied history on the issue.

“Joe Biden is the only candidate in this race who will stand up for our health and our rights,” Alexis McGill Johnson, acting president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement Monday.

“This election we have a choice — between Donald Trump, whose incompetence and disregard for the law are a danger to us all, and Joe Biden, who is committed to fighting for reproductive health and rights for all,” she said.

In a video announcing the endorsement, Biden said he supports a woman’s “constitutional right to choose” and that he would reverse restrictions on family planning funding put in place by the Trump administration and called “gag rules” by opponents.

Those restrictions ban Planned Parenthood and other domestic and global groups that provide or promote abortions from receiving funding that is used to pay for contraception and other health services for low-income people. The funding isn’t used for abortions, but the Trump administration argues it could indirectly support the procedure if it goes to groups that provide them.

Separately, Biden last year reversed his long-standing support for the so-called Hyde amendment, which prevents Medicaid and other federal programs from paying for abortions.

Biden’s campaign initially said he supported the Hyde amendment, but he reversed his position after facing pressure from abortion rights groups, including Planned Parenthood.

While he didn’t mention his new stance in the video, he said “health care is a right not dependent on race, gender, income or ZIP code,” language that is typically used by supporters of ending the Hyde amendment, which disproportionately impacts people of color seeking abortions. 

“As president, I’m going to do everything in my power to expand access to quality affordable health care for women, especially women of color,” Biden said.

McGill Johnson also noted that Biden helped pass the Affordable Care Act, which requires that insurance plans cover contraception with no cost-sharing.

Trump has tried to water down that requirement by allowing employers and businesses that have religious objections to contraception to opt out of providing it to their workers in a rule that is being challenged at the Supreme Court.

“Biden has committed to champion access to sexual and reproductive health care — including access to abortion — and to fight for our communities,” McGill Johnson said. 

“When he left the Senate, Vice President Joe Biden had a 100% voting record from Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and has been clear he is ‘100% for sexual and reproductive health.’ And we are going to hold him to that,” she added.