President Joe Biden was interrupted more than a dozen times by protesters calling on him to support a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war during an abortion rights speech Tuesday, delivered as voters in New Hampshire took to the polls to cast their ballots in the first Democratic primary contest of the 2024 election cycle.
US President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign rally to Restore Roe at Hylton Performing Arts ... [+]
Moments after Biden began his speech in Virginia, a protester shouted “Genocide Joe!”, followed by a series of other protesters who interrupted the 20-minute speech.
Biden’s supporters repeatedly attempted to counter the disruptions with chants of “four more years!” and “we love Joe!” as handlers escorted demonstrators from the auditorium.
Biden didn’t address the protesters, but apologized to the crowd and said “this is going to go out for a while, they’ve got this planned.”
The president has faced pressure from the left wing of his party to call for a cease-fire as the death toll in war-torn Gaza has surpassed 25,000, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, and while he has endorsed a path to ending the war and encouraged Israel to engage in more strategic attacks to spare civilian lives, he has not gone as far to call for a complete halt to the fighting.
"Today in America, women are being turned away from emergency rooms, forced to travel hundreds of miles to get basic health care, forced to go to court to plead to help to protect themselves and their ability to then have children in the future," Biden said, adding “the person most responsible for taking away this freedom in America is Donald Trump.”
Biden delivered the abortion rights speech hours before the polls close in New Hampshire, the first state to vote in the Democratic presidential primary—though the contest is unsanctioned and delegates will not be allocated toward the Democratic nomination. As Biden’s campaign has picked up steam in recent weeks, he and his allies have increasingly highlighted former President Donald Trump’s role in overturning Roe v. Wade by appointing conservative justices who tipped the balance of power on the Supreme Court to pave the way for the June 2022 decision. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have spent the week hammering Republicans over their opposition to abortion, coinciding with the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade on Monday. The White House on Monday also announced new guidance to expand access to contraceptives and improve contraceptive benefits for federal workers and their families. Tuesday’s rally in Virginia marks Harris and Biden’s first joint campaign event together of the 2024 cycle.
Biden did not appear on the New Hampshire ballot following a feud between the state and national Democratic parties over the Democratic National Committee’s decision to make South Carolina the first-in-the-nation primary state, defying the long-held tradition of New Hampshire going first. New Hampshire’s Democratic Party refused to adhere to the new rules, prompting the DNC to eliminate the state’s delegates. Biden—whose allies launched a campaign to urge voters to write his name on their ballots—is projected to win the contest despite his absence on the ballot, according to polls.