Personnel is policy is an adage that has been around Washington, D.C. almost as long as President Joe Biden. His administration is certainly no exception. Biden’s picks for key domestic policy roles have a history of abortion extremism and will no doubt make this administration the most radical, pro-abortion administration in history.
In a typical administration, the secretarial positions are peppered with superstars or controversial figures of the respective political party, including former rivals for the presidential nomination. But instead of crafting policy through these different departments, the Biden administration is poised to direct policy through the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director, Neera Tanden, and the White House Domestic Policy Office Director, Susan Rice. Rounding out the Biden administration’s pro-abortion triple-threat would be the nominee for Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Kristen Clarke.
Neera Tanden, the former president of the liberal Center for American Progress (CAP) attributes defending Roe v. Wade, the 1973 court case that permitted abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, as the reason she entered politics. She has been described as one of the“key architects”of the one of the greatest expansions of abortion, the Affordable Care Act. Tanden also praised the Obamacare mandate on contraception and abortifacients that targeted religious groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor and others. President Biden has vowed to reinstate the mandate which would restart legal harassment of the Little Sisters in an effort to force them to comply.
President Biden’s choice for White House Domestic Policy, Susan Rice, is an unusual pick. As a former U.N. Ambassador and national security advisor she is more qualified to be Secretary of State, instead she is taking a position that has proven, when combined with the OMB director, to have much power and influence over domestic policy. Rice’s record indicates that she will wield her newfound power to shape radical abortion policies.
After being nominated for Ambassador to the United Nations, the abortion-giant Planned Parenthood praised Ambassador Rice as someone who will actively promote abortion around the world. More recently, Rice joined abortion allies in condemning a “U.S. Commission on Unalienable Rights” for fear it would affect the status of abortion as a “human right.” As U.N. Ambassador, Susan Rice tweeted she saw abortion as a “human right” that deserves U.S. Government protections. Susan Rice also wrote an op-ed in support of a liberal view of “campaign finance reform” – which would make it nearly impossible for the pro-life grassroots to interact with Congress, requiring onerous reporting to contact elected officials through any pro-life group.
The third part of this pro-abortion triangle would be Kristen Clarke asAssistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. Like her colleagues, Clarke has built her career on defending abortion.Kristen Clarke signed onto an amicus brief demanding federal taxpayer funding for the billion-dollar abortion business Planned Parenthood. The amicus makes the ludicrous claim that “(w)hile abortion is very safe in America, pregnancy and childbirth pose severe risks;” ignoring the fact that in every abortion at least one human being dies.
The Biden administration plans to use Kristen Clarke’s office to go after state pro-life laws.Recently, Clarke testified in favor of the radical Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA),legislation that would codify Roe v. Wade and seeks to eliminate all state laws that protect women and unborn children. Biden has voiced his support for codifying Roe v. Wade and, with Clarke, this could indeed become a reality.
In past pro-abortion administrations, those concerned about life issues focused on the cabinet secretaries and Congress. But this administration we will see liberal domestic policy being directed by Tanden, Rice, and Clarke. The pro-life movement must be alert and united in pushing back against this radical agenda.
Tom McClusky is the president of March for Life Action.