It turns out that Hollywood’s favorite abortion cheerleader Alyssa Milano may have been instrumental in persuading former Vice President Joe Biden to completely flip on his position of taxpayer-funded abortion.
According to The Hill, Milano had a phone call with Biden’s campaign manager Greg Schultz earlier this week, advising that the former vice president would be wise to change his stance on the Hyde Amendment. CNN even reported on Friday that Milano spoke with Biden directly. Take a look:
Whatever Milano told Biden, it appears to have worked. On Thursday, he immediately reversed his position after several 2020 Democrats began to unilaterally blast his support for the Hyde Amendment.
“We now see so many Republican governors denying healthcare for millions of the most poorest [sic] and most vulnerable Americans by refusing even Medicaid expansion, I can’t justify leaving millions of women out of access to care they need and the ability to exercise their constitutionally protected right,” Biden told a crowd supporters. “If I believe healthcare is a right, as I do, I can no longer support an amendment that makes that right dependent on someone’s ZIP code.”
The former “Charmed” actress then celebrated Biden’s flip-flop on Thursday, thanking him for “listening to the American people,” even though the Hyde Amendment enjoys broad support among the American people.
“@JoeBiden just came out saying, after listening to women in the last 24 hrs, he WILL repeal the Hyde Amendment. I repeat, Joe Biden just came out against the Hyde Amendment. Thanks, Joe. For listening to the American people. And thank you to the women who raised their voices,” said Milano on Twitter.
According to Townhall, Biden’s shift leftward can mean only one thing: the Democrats have taken up an extremist position on abortion with which most Americans do not agree.
“Biden has now walked away from a majority-supported viewpoint on the Hyde Amendment, even as he seems to have the “moderate” lane basically to himself. The playbook to drag him leftward is now established,” said Guy Benson. “By a double-digit margin, the American people oppose public funding of abortion. And the population for whom the Hyde Amendment would be jettisoned is even less likely to support the idea than wealthier Americans.”
Of course, Biden’s flip on the issue, which apparently happened after a few phone calls with a B-list actress-turned-activist, could be politically costly in the long run, since it shows he has no principles whatsoever and will say anything for the sake of garnering progressive support. It also helps him little when several political commentators earlier this week were saying his support of the Hyde Amendment stemmed from his personal convictions.
“I am told explicitly that it is Joe Biden, himself, who says: ‘this is my conviction and I’m not changing it. This is how I have felt and this is how I have voted for my four decades in public service, and I’m not changing,'” said Dana Bash on CNN.
“He is a deeply religious man…he is guided by his faith, his position on the Hyde Amendment has been consistent,” said Rep. Cedric Richmond, national co-chairman of the Biden campaign.