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Joe Biden’s best claim to the Democratic presidential nomination is that he’s a moderate liberal who can pull centrist votes from Donald Trump. That reputation is vanishing by the week as he throws old positions over the side to accommodate his party’s activist left. The latest to get the heave-ho is the most startling as Mr. Biden has repudiated his four-decade support for the Hyde Amendment. Passed in 1976 and renewed every year, the bipartisan Hyde rule prohibits federal funding for abortion. It has long been seen as a middle ground in the wake of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that overturned 50 state abortion laws. Abortion would be legal, but taxpayers who opposed abortion would not be forced to violate their conscience by paying for it. (6/7)

Maybe Joe Biden had to flip on the question of taxpayer funding for abortion in order to win the Democratic presidential nomination. All of his rivals supported that funding, and the party has become more and more aggressive on abortion. Where the 1990s Democratic platforms said abortion should be “safe, legal and rare,” the 2016 platform dropped that defensive note and included an explicit call to end the longstanding ban on using federal Medicaid funds for elective abortions.  (Ramesh Ponnuru, 6/7)

There has long been a relatively safe space for a Democratic politician, particularly a Catholic one, to inhabit on the morally fraught issue of abortion. It was the stance that then-Vice President Joe Biden took during a 2012 debate: “Life begins at conception. That’s the church’s judgment. I accept it in my personal life,” Biden said. “But I refuse to impose it on equally devout Christians and Muslims and Jews. . . . I do not believe we have a right to tell other people — women — that they can’t control their body.” (Karen Tumulty, 6/7)

We’ve come to expect flip-flops in a primary season but Joe Biden’s flip on the Hyde Amendment is unusually consequential. He has put himself in an even worse position than Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign. The Hyde Amendment, named for the late Rep. Henry Hyde of Illinois, is a 43-year-old scrimmage line on the abortion issue. Congress assumes a right to abortion under Roe v. Wade but doesn’t force Americans to fund it with tax dollars. Hyde has never been permanent and must be renegotiated every year across any legislation up for passage or renewal. That temporary status makes it vulnerable—especially since the Democratic National Committee platform opposed it in 2016. But Mr. Biden’s alignment with his party makes him vulnerable. (Matt Hawkins, 6/9)

When, exactly, do abortion opponents think life begins? Over the past few months there has been a rush to pass abortion bans. Most of these bans center on the idea that abortions should be banned as soon as the fetal heartbeat is detected; that’s because “a heartbeat proves that there’s life that deserves protection under law,” according to a state representative in Kentucky, Robert Goforth. On the other hand, many, including Mr. Goforth himself, also believe “life begins at conception,” as Tom Cotton, the Republican senator from Arkansas, said on “Meet the Press” last month. (Molly Jong-Fast, 6/8)

The abortion issue is more divisive than ever, thanks to extreme antiabortion legislation recently passed in some states and, lately, to Democratic presidential candidates seemingly vying to be the most pro-choicest. The newest controversy swirls around the 1976 Hyde Amendment, named for the late Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.), which forbids the use of federal funds for abortion except in cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is at risk. The provision has long enjoyed a degree of bipartisan support in a nod to the millions of conscientious objectors to abortion. (Kathleen Parker, 6/7)

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft last week rejected two proposed ballot measures that would allow voters to overturn the state’s draconian new law restricting abortion rights. Ashcroft says his hands are tied because his fellow Republicans in the Legislature designated part of the law an “emergency,” meaning it cannot be overturned by referendum. That throws it to the courts to decide whether the Legislature’s emergency designation was made in good faith, or if it was — as is obvious — merely a ploy to deny voters any opportunity to have input. So far, the ploy has worked. (6/8)

The political steam surrounding abortion is rising. Several southern states are pushing legislation to restrict abortion to very early in a pregnancy, or not allowing it at all, while some Northern states are going in the opposite direction with laws intended to bring abortion into the later stages of pregnancy. (Marc Siegel, 6/9)

The full range of sexual and reproductive health services Planned Parenthood offers have never been more important. No matter what, we remain committed to serving patients across the state and working alongside public health partners to address the many challenges facing Missouri. (Brandon Hill, 6/9)

Planned Parenthood Arizona chief Bryan Howard has complained on these pages that the abortion giant had to close several clinics because they couldn’t meet regulations. He misses the point. Women’s safety must always trump Planned Parenthood’s bottom line. (Cathi Herrod, 6/6)