Democratic candidates debate in Detroit Michigan, July 30-31, 2019: on Abortion

Joe Biden: Fact-Check: opposes Hyde Amendment, after decades of support

BIDEN: The fact is that the senator knows that that's not my position. Everybody on this stage has been in the Congress and the Senate or House has voted for the Hyde Amendment at some point.

Fact-Check from Vice.com, 6/14/19: [Is that true? Yes.] The Hyde Amendment blocks federal funding for abortion. But Members of Congress don't vote directly on Hyde; rather, they vote for the package of spending bills that include Hyde. Every House or Senate member who's running for president has voted for bills that included Hyde language. Two days after declaring his support for the Hyde Amendment, Biden reversed his decades-long position on it. "If I believe health care is a right, as I do, I can no longer support an amendment that makes that right dependent on someone's ZIP code," Biden said.

Joe Biden: Unequivocal support for abortion rights; Congress must act

Sen. Kamala HARRIS: Why did it take you so long to change your position in the Hyde Amendment?

BIDEN: Because there was not full federal funding for all reproductive services prior to this point.

Kamala Harris: Repeal Hyde Amendment; unacceptable that Biden voted for it

BIDEN: The senator knows that that's not my position. Everybody on this stage has been in the Congress has voted for the Hyde Amendment at some point.

Fact-Check from Vice.com, 6/14/19: [Is Biden right? Yes.] The contenders for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination have made reversing the Hyde Amendment--a measure that blocks federal funding for abortion--a top priority on the campaign trail. Members of Congress don't vote directly on Hyde; rather, they vote for the enormous package of spending bills that include Hyde. Democrats running for the White House have tried to capitalize on that technicality. Harris has backed a bill that would effectively repeal Hyde. (It's unlikely to pass.)