Billionaire and prominent philanthropist Melinda French Gates says she just endorsed a presidential candidate, who she says is Joe Biden. In an op-ed for CNN, French Gates said this election is unlike any before and “the stakes for women and families couldn’t be higher.”
She continued: “After Trump’s first term endangered women’s health, compromised their safety, and denied their basic freedoms, I am supporting Biden in this election and asking others to do the same.”
French Gates has long been involved in bipartisan politics primarily through her venture capital firm, Pivotal Ventures. One of the company’s top priorities is increasing the representation of women at all levels of politics, with a focus on achieving near parity in Congress during her lifetime. But so far, she said, she has refrained from publicly endorsing a specific candidate.
French Gates denounced what she called the “often divisive and sometimes violent rhetoric” of former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. It ranged from “his sexist attacks on female journalists to calls for his opponents to be jailed”. She pointed to Trump’s restrictions on foreign aid for the provision of reproductive services and federal family planning programs.
Of course, she also talked about the Supreme Court justices he appointed who ultimately led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade — a constitutional right to abortion that had existed for fifty years before it was overturned.
“In the two years since Roe was overturned, emergency rooms have turned away pregnant women in desperate need of care because doctors feared legal repercussions,” French Gates wrote. “Obstetricians are fleeing states with strict bans, which can result in women losing access to basic services like birth control pills.”
She added: “The United States already has one of the highest maternal mortality rates among advanced economies, and most obstetricians and gynecologists believe that the decision to overturn Roe resulted in more maternal deaths.”
French Gates believes that if Trump is elected, he will allow states to monitor and prosecute pregnant women, and he has made that clear. But in her view, Biden is doing exactly the opposite. He fought for reproductive freedom, restoring funding and supporting access to drugs like mifepristone. She also claimed that “Biden is, simply put, the strongest defender of caregivers the Oval Office has ever had.”
“While Trump brags about taking back women’s rights, Biden understands that our country’s future depends on them,” she wrote. “This is why Biden has earned my vote. I urge everyone who cares about women and families to join me.
In May, French Gates announced she was resigning from the nonprofit she and ex-husband Bill Gates owned. She will leave with $12.5 billion to use for her philanthropy. She then announced a $1 billion commitment over two years to organizations that support women and families around the world. In announcing her withdrawal, she said: “This is a critical moment for women and girls in the United States and around the world, and those fighting to protect and promote gender equality urgently need support.”
Now it seems we know what she meant, and perhaps who.
