Although Kaine has taken a different position on Hyde than Clinton, both politicians have had to reconcile their own moral views on abortion with public policy. Clinton is a Methodist who has taken conflicting positions on the procedure throughout her time in public life. As First Lady, for example, she characterized abortion as “wrong,” all the while trying to pass a health-care-reform bill that was intended, however obliquely, to mandate insurance coverage for procedure.
Kaine, on the other hand, is a Catholic who has said he personally opposes abortion. When he was campaigning for governor in 2005, he touted his “faith-based opposition to abortion,” encouraging adoption as an alternative, “abstinence-focused” sex ed, and enforcement of Virginia’s abortion restrictions. While he has changed course on abortion policies since getting elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012, his support for Hyde is evidence that he still feels morally conflicted about the procedure—so much that he is maintaining his opposition to the policies of the woman he is supposed to be cheerleading.
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