Tanden: National Ban Is Gop’s ‘moderate’ Position On Abortion

White House Domestic Policy Adviser Neera Tanden on Wednesday juxtaposed Republican calls for a nationwide abortion ban against President Joe Biden’s support for the codification of Roe v. Wade at the national level — framing those as the two choices facing voters in November.

Tanden said Republicans are virtually unified in their calls for a federal abortion ban — and that the debate is only over how far to go. Former President Donald Trump has come out in support of a 15- or 16-week abortion ban, which some in the anti-abortion movement have said doesn’t go far enough in restricting access to the procedure.

“Right now, we know the moderate position on the other side is a nationwide ban. One form of a nationwide ban versus another form of a nationwide ban,” Tanden said at POLITICO’s Health Care Summit. “The president is in the trenches fighting every day.”

Tanden promised that the issue will remain front and center in the White House, and that codifying Roe would be one of the first actions Biden will take in his second term if he’s given a Democratic majority supportive of abortion rights in Congress.

“The president has made freedoms and rights a core element of his agenda for the next year and reproductive freedom and access to abortion are a part of that, and really a central pillar of that,” she said.

Tanden slammed House Speaker Mike Johnson for saying “radical things,” on reproductive rights, a nod to recent comments in which he declined to say whether destroying embryos as part of the in vitro fertilization process is murder.

She also pushed back on criticisms from the progressive wing of the abortion-rights movement that Biden didn’t say the word “abortion” during his State of the Union address last week. The movement has also voiced concerns about Biden’s decision to highlight the stories of women with wanted pregnancies during the speech.

“Just a few weeks ago at a rally in Virginia on Roe, the president talked about abortion,” she said. “The central question here is who is fighting for you — and the president has been fighting on this issue.”