When news broke that Hillary Clinton had chosen Virginia senator Tim Kaine to be her running mate, NARAL (the group formerly known as the National Abortion Rights Action League) showered praise on Kaine for maintaining a “100% pro-choice voting record in the U.S. Senate.” Despite saying that he’s a Catholic personally opposed to abortion, Kaine has voted against even modest restrictions on abortion, including a ban on public funding for elective abortion under Obmacare and a ban on most abortions after the fifth month of pregnancy, a stage in life when infants can feel pain and survive long-term if born prematurely.
The one modest abortion restriction Kaine has supported is the Hyde amendment, which bans federal funding for abortions under Medicaid, except in cases of rape, incest, or life endangerment. For the first time ever, the Democrats’ 2016 platform explicitly calls for repealing the Hyde amendment and allowing unlimited federal funding of elective abortions for Medicaid recipients. West Virginia senator and pro-life Democrat Joe Manchin called the change to the platform’s abortion plank “crazy.”
“I haven’t been informed of that change, but I’m going to check it out,” Tim Kaine told THE WEEKLY STANDARD’s Jenna Lifhits earlier this month. “I have traditionally been a supporter of the Hyde amendment, but I’ll check it out.”
It’s not clear why Kaine thought he’d need to check out the language to decide if he was still a supporter of the Hyde amendment. But Kaine did appear to be under pressure to move even farther to the left on abortion as he positioned himself to be Clinton’s running mate. Last month, he quietly cosponsored the “Women’s Health Protection Act” three years after the measure was introduced. The bill could wipe almost all modest state laws on abortion off the books, including 24-hour waiting periods, informed consent laws, and a late-term abortion ban under which Kermit Gosnell was convicted.
Will Kaine maintain his support for the Hyde amendment? Or is support for unlimited taxpayer-funding of abortion another price he had to pay to be Clinton’s VP?
