Biden’s big speech showed his uneasy approach to abortion, an issue bound to be key in the campaign

By CHRISTINE FERNANDO
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden made abortion and reproductive rights a central theme of his State of the Union speech, but he never mentioned the word “abortion.” Pushback over how he addressed the issue is the latest example of Biden’s fraught history with the topic. Many in the abortion rights movement have long viewed him as an imperfect messenger. As Biden’s campaign seeks to harness the issue for his re-election bid, his aides believe they can reach a broader swath of voters by framing the issue around reproductive freedom, as the fallout from the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has expanded into areas such as IVF and birth control.