Biden Promises to Codify Roe in What Some See as Last-Ditch Midterm Abortion Effort
Gillian Richards /
President Joe Biden announced that if Democrats win the House and Senate in the midterm elections this November, the first bill he would send to Congress would codify Roe v. Wade.
Biden remarked at the Democratic National Committee event this Tuesday that the Supreme Court’s June 24 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision violated women’s’ “fundamental right” to abortion. “Fifty years of constitutional precedent was overturned,” Biden said of the Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion on-demand in all 50 states.
“We’re only 22 days away from the most consequential election in history… in recent history at least,” Biden said at the event, hosted in Washington, D.C.
Biden cited Republicans’ efforts, such as those of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, to ban abortion nationwide. “If such a bill were to pass in the next several years, I’ll veto it,” Biden said to a cheering crowd.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., released a statement following Biden’s speech. He wrote:
The choice for America’s future is clear as day: elect more MAGA Republicans if you want to see a nationwide ban on abortion; if you want to see doctors and women arrested; if you want to see no exceptions for rape or incest. Elect more pro-choice Democrats to save Roe and protect a woman’s right to make their own decisions about their health and their body.
Several pro-life organizations released statements on Biden’s speech, calling it a “last-ditch” effort to salvage Democrats’ shot at winning the midterm elections in November.
March for Life President Jeanne Mancini wrote in a prepared statement:
President Biden’s desperate attempt to sway voters by pushing painful abortions is clear evidence of how out of touch he is. Ninety percent of Americans reject Biden’s view that abortion should be legal up until birth for any reason – paid for by taxpayers.
According to a May 2022 CBS poll, just 17% of Americans say they think abortion should be legal at any point in a pregnancy. A Pew Research Poll this May similarly found that 19% of Americans say they believe abortion should be legal in all cases.
“Doubling down on an extreme agenda of abortion on demand until birth won’t stop Democrats from losing Congress, even with the abortion industry spending record sums to elect them,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, wrote in a statement. “Biden’s party is on the wrong side and stunningly out of touch.”
“Clear majorities of Americans … support commonsense limits on abortion, including a minimum federal standard to stop brutal late-term abortions when unborn babies feel pain,” she added.
Dannenfelser encouraged pro-life Republicans to continue exposing their Democratic opponents’ extreme stance on abortion. “The stakes of the midterm elections could not be higher,” she said. “President Biden is making clear today have that if Democrats control Congress in 2023, they will destroy the filibuster and pass their Abortion on Demand Until Birth Act to mandate abortion on demand in all 50 states.”
Jeanne Mancini said the country is seeking “positive solutions, not more violence and death. … It is time for Americans to hold pro-abortion politicians accountable.”
Mary Margaret Olohan contributed to this report.
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