Even the abortion-worshipping mainstream media isn’t so delusional as to think that the Biden-Harris presidential ticket’s stance on abortion is a good look for your average American voter.
As multiple conservative speakers during this week’s Republican National Convention railed against against Joe Biden’s pro-abortion stance, some liberal-leaning media outlets went into overdrive to make Biden seem much more moderate on the issue than he really is. Their spin was so strong that National Review’s David Harsanyi accused them of “lying.”
Both Vice President Mike Pence and Sister Dierdre Byrne mentioned Biden’s horrific pro-abortion affinity during night three of the convention, both making the claim that Biden supports abortion up until birth. “Fact-Checkers” at The Washington Post, NBCNews.com and NPR completely denounced the claim.
On August 27, The Washington Post tried to stick a fork in Sr. Deirdre’s claim from the RNC speech that a Biden-Harris presidential ticket supports “the horrors of late-term abortion and infanticide.” The liberal publication refuted this, and clarified, “He supports abortion rights and says he would codify in statute the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Roe v. Wade and related precedents, which generally limit abortions to the first 20 to 24 weeks of gestation.”
"Generally" is the keyword here. Also "related precedents:" Roe's companion case Doe v. Bolton makes it legal for a child to be aborted after viability if the mental or emotional health of the mother is at stake, so pretty much at any time for any reason. But, hey, don't worry. That's only about “8,000 viable fetuses" aborted a year, according to the numbers cited by Harsanyi.
As pro-life orgs like Students for Life have explained, “codifying Roe v. Wade” is “code for” securing a woman’s right to an abortion at any time as a federal law and limiting state governments from putting restrictions on the procedure. Essentially a Texas state limit on the procedure wouldn’t apply nor would Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s “heartbeat bill” be able to save children earlier in the pregnancy.
NPR also went after Byrne’s claim, saying, “But Biden has not explicitly expressed support for late-term abortions. He wants to codify Roe v. Wade and reup federal funding for Planned Parenthood.” Again, “not explicitly expressed” doesn't mean anything, but NPR’s second sentence statement admits it’s all implied.
NPR also tried to smooth it over, saying that Biden’s just appealing to what Americans want anyways: “As of 2019, public support for legal abortion remains at the highest level witnessed.” Fair enough, but other polls, like a 2019 Marist one, say that nearly two-thirds of Americans want limits on abortions. Biden and Harris aren’t what people want, either.
The public radio station also slammed Pence’s condemnation of Biden’s abortion policies, offering the same fact-check they gave to Sr. Byrne. Biden didn’t say he wanted late-term abortions, but again, does that mean we won’t continue to get them?
NBC News went after Pence’s claim as well, echoing Washington Post’s "fact-check": “Elective abortions do not occur ‘up until the moment of birth.’ Just 1.2 percent occur after 21 weeks of gestation.” National Review’s Alexandra DeSanctis blasted the claim, saying that 1.2 percent still means late-term abortion is supported legally. That 1.2 percent sounds like a small amount is irrelevant, especially when it's out of almost a million annual abortions.
