White House press secretary Jen Psaki fired back at a male reporter who questioned President Joe Biden’s support for legal abortion despite his Catholic faith.
EWTN Global Catholic Network reporter Owen Jensen asked Psaki about Biden’s abortion position, even “though his own Catholic faith teaches abortion is morally wrong.”
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“It’s a woman’s right. It’s a woman’s body, and it’s her choice,” she said Thursday. “I know you’ve never faced those choices, nor have you ever been pregnant, but for women out there who have faced those choices, this is an incredibly difficult thing. The president believes that right should be respected.”
The White House “worried” other states would pass “copycat” laws after the Supreme Court declined to block a Texas measure banning abortions after six weeks, regardless of whether the baby was conceived through rape or incest, according to Psaki.
“He would convey to them, ‘I have asked my team to use every lever at their disposal to ensure you have this right,'” she said of Biden’s message to Texas women.
Biden, a Catholic who opposed abortion in the past and supported the Hyde Amendment bans on taxpayer funding of abortion until 2019, announced Thursday he had directed the White House’s Gender Policy Council and Office of Counsel to launch “a whole-of-government effort” to mitigate the Supreme Court’s decision, including through the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Justice. But he has not given them a deadline to report back, Psaki said.
According to Psaki, the president was “eager to sign into law” a bill codifying Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortions nationwide. But the White House was still considering the proposed Women’s Health Protection Act, she added.
Psaki did not avoid the word “abortion” during her briefing, nor did Biden in two statements concerning the Supreme Court decision issued on his behalf.
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“The most important value people should look at is what the president does and his actions and what he fights for,” Psaki said when asked about their language choice. “I don’t think I’m going to have any other assessment beyond that.”
