16 Democrats to attend 2020 abortion forum hosted by Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood announced Wednesday that 16 of the 24 candidates for the 2020 Democratic nomination will participate in a forum on reproductive rights the group will host later this month.

The candidates will be questioned for roughly 15 minutes about their positions and voting records on issues like abortion rights, access to health care and contraception, according to The New York Times.

The event will be hosted in Columbia, S.C., on June 22, the same weekend and city as the state Democratic Party convention the majority of White House hopefuls are already planning to attend.

{mosads}The event will be live-streamed by NowThis News, a video news platform.

More of the Democratic candidates are expected to commit to Planned Parenthood’s forum soon, per the Times.

Among the candidates to be confirmed already by the group is Joe Biden, whose positions on reproductive rights made headlines last week.

Biden’s campaign initially said the former vice president still supported the Hyde Amendment, which bars federal money from being used for abortion.

After significant backlash arguing that the rule disproportionately hits poor and minority women, Biden announced he would now oppose the amendment.

The forum also comes as several states have recently passed or are considering anti-abortion legislation.

White House hopefuls have condemned those policies, with many of them promising to codify Roe v Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision which guaranteed the right to an abortion, if elected.