Lerer writes: "It was a new era in Washington in 1981, and abortion rights activists were terrified."
Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 1981. His changing record on abortion is getting fresh scrutiny as he considers running for president in a Democratic primary where women are expected to make up a majority of voters. (photo: George Tames/NYT)
When Joe Biden Voted to Let States Overturn Roe v. Wade
31 March 19
t was a new era in Washington in 1981, and abortion rights activists were terrified.
With an anti-abortion president, Ronald Reagan, in power and Republicans controlling the Senate for the first time in decades, social conservatives pushed for a constitutional amendment to allow individual states to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that had made abortion legal nationwide several years earlier.
The amendment — which the National Abortion Rights Action League called “the most devastating attack yet on abortion rights” — cleared a key hurdle in the Senate Judiciary Committee in March 1982. Support came not only from Republicans but from a 39-year-old, second-term Democrat: Joseph R. Biden Jr.
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