Whitmer pushes Biden to talk more bluntly about abortion

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is nudging President Joe Biden to lean harder into abortion rights as he seeks to win another term in the White House.

“I think it would be good if he did,” Whitmer said, when asked during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” whether Biden should be talking about abortion more. “I know that one tenet of his belief system is that women and only women, with their families, and healthcare professionals are the ones who know what decision is right for them.”

Whitmer, a Democratic governor of a purple state and a co-chair of Biden’s reelection bid, has credited the abortion rights with helping Democrats win up and down the ballot in Michigan — helping her win reelection in 2022, and helping Democrats win majorities in both branches of the state legislature, the first time in decades the state’s government flipped entirely blue.

Top Biden campaign officials have flagged abortion rights as a top issue for the president, but Biden himself has been more restrained in talking about the issue than other Democrats.

The president, who is Catholic, has described himself as personally not “big on abortion” because of his faith, but the landmark Roe v. Wade decision “got it right,” he said over the summer. Since then, he’s slammed court rulings limiting abortion access and fought efforts to restrict the availability of abortion pills.

Biden has been poised to run on what has been described as the strongest abortion rights platform of any general election candidate as he and his allies look to notch a victory in the first presidential election since Roe was overturned in 2022.

But having Biden tout that message himself wouldn’t hurt, Whitmer said in the interview, which aired Sunday.

“I think people want to know that this is a president that is fighting. And I think he has said that, to use maybe more, you know, blunt language, maybe that would be helpful,” Whitmer said.