‘Read it, man’: Biden tells EWTN reporter to ‘get educated’ on Roe

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 20, 2022 / 15:36 pm

President Biden stated Thursday afternoon that he supported abortion restrictions, contradicting his administration’s policies advocating for abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. 

On Thursday afternoon, EWTN’s White House correspondent Owen Jensen asked the president if he supported any restrictions on abortion. 

“Mr. President, should there be any restrictions on abortion at all?” Jensen asked, immediately before the president boarded Marine One. 

“Yes, there should be,” Biden responded. 

When Jensen asked what those restrictions should be, Biden yelled, “It’s Roe v. Wade. Read it, man! You’ll get educated,” before running away.  

Biden and Democrats’ policy stance is unrestricted abortion 

Biden’s administration policies and past statements contradict his comment that he is for restrictions on abortion. 

The president has made it clear, for example, that he would codify Roe v. Wade and sign the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), the most radical piece of abortion legislation yet.

As previously reported by CNA, the WHPA would forbid any kind of abortion restrictions before and after fetal viability.

The act defines viability as “the point in a pregnancy at which, in the good-faith medical judgment of the treating health care provider, based on the particular facts of the case before the health care provider, there is a reasonable likelihood of sustained fetal survival outside the uterus with or without artificial support.”

The WHPA would forbid abortion restrictions after viability “when, in the good-faith medical judgment of the treating health care provider, continuation of the pregnancy would pose a risk to the pregnant patient’s life or health.”

It also would nullify pro-life laws across the country, including late-term abortion limits and parental consent laws.

In May, Biden sent a statement to Senate Democrats promising he would sign the WHPA into law. 

In the letter, the president condemned “extreme” abortion restrictions happening at the state level. 

“State laws designed to restrict access to abortion have increased at an alarming rate recently — in Texas, Mississippi, and many other states around the country,” the letter read.

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The president called on Congress to eliminate “unwarranted and inappropriate restrictions” and “unjustified burdens on commerce” preventing women from obtaining abortions. 

In response to Jensen’s interaction with the president, news outlet Mediaite accused pro-lifers of “adopt[ing] the false talking point that Democrats don’t believe in any limits at all because they won’t name a specific time limit” on abortion. 

Democrats voted unanimously for the WHPA in the Senate earlier this year, with the exception of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin.

During the 2022 midterm election season, the majority of Democrat candidates have adopted the WHPA and the codification of Roe v. Wade as their official policy stance on abortion. 

Democrat candidates have also dodged questions from the media when asked if they support any abortion restrictions. 

Roe v. Wade ‘invalidated’ all abortion restrictions 

Further, Biden’s claim that Roe v. Wade had allowed for restrictions on abortions is misleading, according to Alexandra DeSanctis, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. 

“Roe v. Wade and its companion case, Doe v. Bolton, invented an essentially unlimited constitutional right to abortion, invalidating all state laws in place protecting unborn children,” DeSanctis said in a statement to CNA.

The Supreme Court’s Doe v. Bolton decision, which became part of Roe’s legal framework, broadly defined risks to a patient’s health to include “all factors — physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age.” 

As pro-life group, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, explains, “this sweeping health exception is meant to be construed broadly [with] the effect of making abortion available throughout all of pregnancy.” 

“Under Roe, Doe, and, later, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, courts struck down pro-life law after pro-life law, some of which didn’t even restrict abortion at all but merely attempted to protect women’s health and safety when seeking abortions,” DeSanctis said.

“Until Dobbs, it was nearly impossible to enact laws protecting unborn children, even after they are old enough to survive outside the womb,” she added.

Carolyn McDonnell, litigation counsel at Americans United for Life, told CNA that “the Roe court concocted an arbitrary trimester test,” which meant that “there were virtually no restrictions on abortion.”

“Roe was unworkable since the day it was decided,” she said.