It's one thing for an 81-year-old president to shake hands with the air after he finishes a speech, forget where he is, and say silly nonsense like "I work for the government in the Senate." But it's a different thing altogether when his left-wing campaign staff releases an ad that flat-out lies — hilariously so.

Such was the case on Sunday when the Biden campaign released "Forced," the embattled president's first full-blown abortion ad of 2024.

The ad features a woman who claims she had to leave Texas to have a planned abortion after (she says in the ad) doctors told her the "fetus" had no chance of survival. So why did the woman — an OBGYN — have to "flee" her home state? 

Because of Donald Trump Overturning Roe v. Wade.

Yeah, I'm shocked, too — as are U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, I suspect.

I'm an OBGYN in Texas and the mother of three wonderful children. Having this beautiful, messy, chaotic, but wonderful family, it’s the joy of my life. I never thought that I would need an abortion for a planned pregnancy. But I did. Two years ago, I became pregnant with a baby I desperately wanted. I had a routine ultrasound [and] I learned that the fetus would have a fatal condition and that there was absolutely no chance of survival.

In Texas, you are forced to carry that pregnancy. And that is because of Donald Trump overturning Roe v. Wade. The choice was completely taken away. I was to continue my pregnancy, putting my life at risk. It’s every woman’s worst nightmare, and it was absolutely unbearable. We need leaders that will protect our rights, and not take them away. And that’s Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Thing is? A strong majority of low-information, rank-and-file Democrat voters who see the ad will believe every bit of it without reservation.

Because of Donald Trump, Dr. Austin Dennard was forced to flee Texas to get the heath care she needed to save her life. It’s simply outrageous. pic.twitter.com/CcNc6wgN5p

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) January 21, 2024

The flat-out lie — "Because of Donald Trump, Dr. Austin Dennard was forced to flee Texas to get the heath [sic] care she needed to save her life. It’s simply outrageous." — is laughable in its idiocy, and insulting to intelligent Americans. What — did Trump blackmail six conservative Supreme Court justices? Or, was he so persuasive that he changed their minds about Dobbs? 

The asinine ad ends with two images of Biden and then Biden and Harris, with the president boldly saying: "I’m Joe Biden and I approve this message." The campaign captioned the ad on X, writing: 

Because of Donald Trump, Dr. Austin Dennard was forced to flee Texas to get the heath [sic] care she needed to save her life. It’s simply outrageous."

And of course Biden approved the message. Just like 49 out of 50 Senate Democrats in May 2022 voted in support of legislation that included a right to on-demand abortion right up until the moment of birth. The bill was defeated, 51-49, with Virginia Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin voting with the Republicans.

Incidentally, here's the latest on abortion in Texas:

More than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, Texas continues to be the largest state in the nation to ban nearly all abortions. But some questions and changes to abortion and birth control access have arisen since then.

It is still illegal to perform an abortion in Texas, including by dispensing or mailing the abortion-inducing medications mifepristone and misoprostol, in most circumstances. Texas’ laws have narrow exceptions only to save the life or prevent “substantial impairment of major bodily function” of a pregnant patient.

State laws do not criminalize the person who has an abortion. Some Texans have found ways to get abortions by traveling to other states or Mexico, or self-managing abortions at home by getting medications through international nonprofits, such as Aid Access, or online stores.

State law also says the Texas Medical Board cannot take disciplinary action against a physician for providing such treatment, and that pharmacies and pharmacists who provide medication ordered by a physician in these circumstances also have a defense.

However, Dr. Austin was correct in this respect: Texas abortion laws don’t make an exception for lethal fetal abnormalities, forcing some pregnant patients to carry pregnancies to term even if they are not expected to have viable outcomes.

The Bottom Line

The chasm between one extreme — which not only supports but also celebrates on-demand abortion until the moment of would-be birth — and the other extreme — opposes legal abortion even if lethal fetal abnormalities exist — suggests that, while neither extreme will ever be satisfied, plenty of middle ground exists for less-extreme positions. 

That said, should the Republican Party run in part on the abortion issue in November?