Fact check: In 1982, Biden voted in support of an amendment to overturn Roe v. Wade

Sudiksha Kochi, USA TODAY
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The claim: Biden proposed a constitutional amendment to overturn Roe v. Wade in 1982

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which gave Americans the constitutional right to an abortion, President Joe Biden's history on the issue has drawn renewed scrutiny.

A Facebook post shared June 27 shows a screenshot of a tweet senior editor of The Federalist David Harsanyi shared with a link to a New York Times article titled "When Joe Biden Voted to Let States Overturn Roe v. Wade."

"In 1982 Joe Biden proposes a constitutional amendment that would overturn Roe v. Wade and allow states to choose their own policies on abortion," reads the tweet, which amassed over 10,000 likes since it published on June 24.

The Facebook post generated 3,000 shares in less than a week. Similar posts have amassed hundreds of interactions on Facebook and Twitter.

But the claim is off the mark.

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Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, introduced the constitutional amendment to overturn Roe v. Wade in 1981, not Biden. Biden did vote in favor of it in 1982, however.

USA TODAY reached out to social media users who shared the claim for comment.

Hatch introduced amendment to overturn Roe v. Wade

Hatch introduced the amendment in 1981, according to congress.gov. The amendment would have granted "concurrent power to Congress and the States to restrict and prohibit abortions" and "declares that the Constitution does not secure a right to abortion."

Biden, then a senator and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, voted in favor of the amendment in committee in March 1982, according to the New York Times. He said the vote was “the most difficult one he had made as a senator and that, as a Roman Catholic, he was not sure that he had 'a right to impose' his views on an issue that would affect the entire nation," the Times reported.

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The proposal failed to advance to the full Senate. Hatch introduced a second amendment in 1983 that again declared that "a right to abortion is not secured by the Constitution," but Biden changed his stance and voted against it, according to archived congressional records.

Biden's views on abortion have fluctuated over the years. He told the Washingtonian in a 1974 interview that the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling "went too far" and he didn't think "a woman has the sole right to say what should happen to her body."

But in 2012, President Barack Obama tweeted a direct quote from Biden, then the vice president, on abortion that said, "I do not believe that we have a right to tell other people, women, that they can’t control their bodies.”

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, Biden said, "The health and life of women in this nation are now at risk," USA TODAY reported.

Our rating: Partly false

Based on our research, we rate PARTLY FALSE the claim that Biden proposed a constitutional amendment to overturn Roe v. Wade in 1982. Biden did vote in favor of that amendment initially, but he's not the one who proposed it. And Biden voted against the same amendment when it resurfaced a year later.

Our fact-check sources:

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: In 1982, Biden voted to overturn Roe v. Wade