{"id":306472,"date":"2024-02-07T16:38:54","date_gmt":"2024-02-07T22:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=306472"},"modified":"2024-02-07T15:37:26","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T21:37:26","slug":"biden-remarks-abortion-on-demand-three-trimesters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/biden-remarks-abortion-on-demand-three-trimesters\/","title":{"rendered":"Unpacking Biden’s remarks about ‘abortion on demand’ and ‘the three trimesters’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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During a campaign stop in Las Vegas on Sunday, President Biden made a confusing statement<\/a> regarding his thoughts and plans for abortion in the U.S. if he wins reelection.<\/p>\n

“I love how Trump now says Biden is for abortion on demand. That’s not true,” claimed Biden. “That’s not what Roe v. Wade said. It said the three trimesters and how it worked.”<\/p>\n

It appears that President Biden may have been attempting to imply that he is not in favor of abortion on demand because Roe<\/em> didn’t allow abortion on demand. However, this idea is misleading. Roe<\/em> actually did allow abortion in all of “the three trimesters” of pregnancy (continue reading to learn more). Biden has vowed<\/a> to “restore the protections of Roe<\/em> in federal law once and for all.” Therefore, he is supporting the allowance of abortion throughout the entirety of pregnancy.<\/p>\n

If a person claims he does not support “abortion on demand” while simultaneously refusing to state if or when he would limit or restrict<\/em> the killing of preborn human beings, it should be obvious that this person does not support limiting the action in any way \u2014 and is therefore, by default, supporting “abortion on demand.”<\/p>\n

What Roe allowed<\/strong><\/p>\n

Roe v. Wade<\/em>, along with its sister case, Doe v. Bolton<\/em>, legalized abortion throughout all 40 weeks of pregnancy using a trimester framework<\/a>. Though Roe<\/em> used so-called ‘viability<\/a>‘ (essentially a meaningless<\/a> and completely subjective<\/a> term) to force states to allow abortion for any reason in the first trimester and for “health” reasons in the second trimester, it also said states could protect preborn children from abortion in the third trimester as long as abortion was still legal in the third trimester for certain situations<\/em> including health<\/em>. However, Doe<\/em> defined “health” to include a woman’s “physical, emotional, psychological,” and even “familial” health \u2014 a definition broad enough to include any<\/em> reason.<\/p>\n

Under this broad ‘health’ umbrella, Roe<\/em> allowed abortion on demand, and Biden wants to codify<\/em> the rules of Roe<\/em> into federal law. As he said, that would mean allowing abortion in “the three trimesters.” If he succeeds and codifies Roe<\/em>, there won’t be a single preborn child in the U.S. who is protected from death by abortion.<\/p>\n

But if Biden doesn’t<\/em> think abortion being available in “the three trimesters” is essentially “abortion on demand,” then what do his comments mean? It’s something social media commenters pondered.<\/p>\n

“Three trimesters” pushback<\/strong><\/p>\n

Social media users noted that while pregnancy itself includes three trimesters, there is what’s often referred to as the “fourth trimester<\/a>” \u2014 the 12 weeks after giving birth. For many, Biden’s comments signified that perhaps he and his administration would allow “after-birth abortion” \u2014 a pro-infanticide idea<\/a> supported by two Oxford bioethicists.<\/p>\n

In 2012, Alberto Giubilini from the University of Milan and Francesca Minerva from Melbourne University claimed in the Journal of Medical Ethics<\/a> that fetuses and newborns \u201cdo not have the same moral status as actual persons.\u201d Because there is virtually no difference between a 40-week fetus and a newborn baby (other than location), an argument for abortion up to 40 weeks could easily expand into an argument for “after-birth abortion.”<\/p>\n

David Deavel, Associate Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas, quipped<\/a> of Biden’s statements, “See. After three trimesters are over, he is willing to consider some limits.”<\/p>\n

Another said<\/a>, “Biden has backed some post-viability bans during his Senate career but has also said as president he’d sign legislation that effectively would not allow them.”<\/p>\n

Another commenter wrote<\/a>, “Legalized infanticide. How noble of them.”<\/p>\n

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Legalized infanticide. How noble of them. pic.twitter.com\/H1o1hmxOFv<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Memelord Focker (@Johnson84Tj) February 5, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n