Pro-life Evangelicals for Biden told the president over the weekend that they are "very disappointed" in his COVID relief bill. They feel "used and betrayed" because the measure does not include the Hyde Amendment, which bans the taxpayer funding of abortions.
Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden: “We feel used and betrayed.” pic.twitter.com/63lWYu0IeU
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 7, 2021
"As pro-life leaders in the evangelical community, we publicly supported President Biden's candidacy with the understanding that there would be engagement with [sic] us on the issue of abortion and particularly the Hyde Amendment," the group writes. "The Biden team wanted to talk to us during the campaign to gain our support, and we gave it on the condition there would be active dialogue and common ground solutions on the issue of abortion."
They were surprised to find that "there has been no dialogue since the campaign."
However, on the campaign trail Biden flip flopped on the Hyde Amendment a few times. For years he supported the measure, until an ACLU volunteer confronted him and asked if he'd lift the measure and he responded, "yes." A few days later he backtracked as his campaign confirmed to NBC News that he still supported Hyde.
Some social media users wondered why Pro-life Evangelicals for Biden didn't see this coming.
Hold up. Pro-life evangelicals, whose most important issue is (presumably) pro-life policies, chose not to vote for the most pro-life president ever, but instead voted for a radically pro-abortion candidate on the premise that he’d... have a dialogue with them!?
— micah (@GoesByMicah) March 7, 2021
I feel you guys should have done your homework before voting.
— Cari Kelemen 2.0 (@CariKelemen) March 7, 2021