In the ongoing “battle for the soul of the Democratic Party,” few issues have been bigger flashpoints than abortion rights. Both Bernie Sanders and Tom Perez have both faced criticism for suggesting the party should in certain circumstances back candidates that didn’t have stellar records on abortion (even though this didn’t actually describe Keith Mello, the candidate Sanders was backing), while the inconsistencies of some of those who have criticized that position have aroused doubt about their motives. The president of NARAL Pro-Choice excoriated Sanders for his support of Mello, for instance, but enthusiastically backed Clinton’s choice of the Hyde Amendment-supporting Tim Kaine as VP.

Wading into this debate will be Joe Biden, who has what can generously be described as a mixed record on abortion rights. While he has, like many pro-life Democrats, “evolved” on the issue over time, what sets Biden apart is that even this evolution has carried him only to what he himself describes as a moderate position on the issue.

For the first few decades of his career, Biden waffled between restricting abortion rights and defending them, though generally leaning toward the former. He started his Senate career as a self-described social conservative who disliked Roe v. Wade, griping that it “went too far” and that he didn’t think “that a woman has the sole right to say what should happen to her body.”