Catholic Joe Biden's health care plan is full of pro-abortion mandates

What's more out of touch than rolling out a health care plan with your boss' infamous old "if you like your health care plan … you can keep it" lie? Unveiling one that's chock-full of pro-abortion mandates.

Former Vice President Joe Biden — a supposed moderate in the 2020 Democratic field — released his health care plan on Monday, and it's incredibly extreme on abortion for someone thought of as a "moderate" Democrat (not to mention a self-described Catholic who says he's personally opposed to abortion).

In the proposal, Biden reiterated his newfound support for repealing the Hyde Amendment, on which he publicly reversed course earlier this year after taking criticism from pro-abortion voices on the issue. (That flip-flop didn't do much for his numbers.) After decades of support for the amendment, Biden says he now opposes barring federal funds from going directly to abortions because "health care is a right that should not be dependent on one’s zip code or income."

Additionally, Biden says he wants to offer a Medicare-style "public option" for health insurance, which — naturally — covers abortion. Biden's campaign also promises to "codify Roe v.Wade, and his Justice Department will do everything in its power to stop the rash of state laws that so blatantly violate the constitutional right to an abortion."

One type of pro-life law that Biden singles out in the proposal is parental consent laws, i.e. laws that say minor-aged girls must get their parents' consent before having their children killed in utero. While many states have them, 13 and the District of Columbia do not.

Unsurprisingly, Biden also says that he wants to reverse Trump administration policies cutting off funds to Planned Parenthood as well as to organizations that promote abortion overseas.

So what do Americans think?

A 2019 Marist poll found that 75 percent of Americans think abortion should be restricted to the first three months of pregnancy at most. It also found that even a majority of people who call themselves "pro-choice" think the same way. The same was true for 78 percent of independents.

Furthermore, rather than codified, the Marist survey also found that a majority of Americans want to see the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade precedent limited or completely overturned in the future.

Biden "is like every other Democrat candidate," tweeted LiveAction president and founder Lila Rose in response to the proposal. "He doesn't back a SINGLE abortion restriction. Yes - that means abortion through 9 months, on 6, 7, 8 lbs babies ...Horrific."

Incredibly, while Biden's proposals are way off the mark with American voters, they're still less extreme than proposals from other Democrat primary contenders. For example, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., has promised to create a federal office dedicated to expanding abortion access, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., wants to force pro-life states to check with her Department of Justice before enacting new pro-life laws, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., compared pro-life views to racism.

Maybe Biden actually is what will have to pass for a "moderate" on abortion in this primary.

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