Ocasio-Cortez Claims the Hyde Amendment Isn’t Actually About Abortion, Says It’s ‘an American Issue’

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) claimed that the Hyde Amendment wasn’t actually about abortion.

Former Vice President Joe Biden brought the Hyde Amendment — an amendment that prevented taxpayer dollars from funding abortions — back into the public dialogue after he flipped his position on the issue several times in the span of a few days.

Biden now says he supports repealing the Hyde Amendment, despite his career-long defense of the legislation.

During an interview on “ABC This Week,” Ocasio-Cortez addressed Biden’s change of heart and claimed that she was glad he finally settled with the majority of the Democratic Party. She claimed that support for taxpayer-funded abortions is a “base level where all [Democratic 2020] candidates need to be.”

The New York congresswoman noted that she is working on legislation that would repeal the Hyde Amendment for incarcerated women, noting that she doesn’t believe it is actually about abortion.

Watch Ocasio-Cortez’s interview:

“Reproductive health care for incarcerated women should be guaranteed as it is with all women in the United States, so I think it really depends. I think that’s what the Hyde Amendment is really about. The Hyde Amendment isn’t about abortion, per se. The Hyde Amendment is truly about equality of health care and health care access for low-income women and women of color and women that get caught in our incarceration — mass incarceration — system.”

Ocasio-Cortez added that the Hyde Amendment is about income inequality and it is no longer just a women’s issue.

“This is not in the niche topic of women’s issues anymore,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “This is an American issue. We’re talking about 50, 51% of the American public impacted by the realities of the Hyde Amendment.”

Ocasio-Cortez’s bill addressing the Hyde Amendment isn’t the only action she is taking. She also recently sent around a petition for her supporters to sign, a move that some have claimed is a jab at Biden.