President Joe Biden on Tuesday expressed deep concern about the draft of a Supreme Court that revealed the court’s conservative majority intends to overturn Roe v Wade, the ruling granting federal abortion rights.
In his comments, Biden said that ‘basic fairness’ demands that Roe v Wade – which legalized abortion in 1973 – is not overturned.
‘I believe that a woman’s right to choose is fundamental, Roe has been the law of the land for almost fifty years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned,’ Biden said in a written statement.
His comments follow the leak of an alleged a draft opinion from the US Supreme Court that suggests the landmark 1973 ruling guaranteeing the right to abortion would be overturned by the high court.
In his comments, the President also acknowledged that it is unclear whether the draft, published by , is genuine or will come to fruition.
‘We do not know whether this draft is genuine or whether it reflects the final decision of the Court,’ Biden said Tuesday morning, hours after the bombshell report was late Monday evening.
Given that caveat, Biden outlined three critical points about the cases before the Supreme Court.
‘First, my administration argued strongly before the Court in defense of Roe v Wade. We said that Roe is based on “a long line of precedent recognizing ‘the Fourteenth Amendment’s concept of personal liberty’ … against government interference with intensely personal decisions,”‘ Biden said.
‘Second, shortly after the enactment of Texas law SB 8 and other laws restricting women’s reproductive rights, I directed my Gender Policy Council and White House Counsel’s Office to prepare options for an Administration response to the continued attack on abortion and reproductive rights, under a variety of possible outcomes in the cases pending before the Supreme Court.’
In his comments, Biden vowed that the White House will be ready when any Supreme Court ruling on the topic is issued.
Biden also said that if the Supreme Court overturns Roe, it would ‘fall on our nation’s elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman’s right to choose.’
He then called for the election of ‘more pro-choice Senators and a pro-choice majority in the House’ this fall in order to pass federal legislation that would protect abortion rights.
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