On Friday, President Joe Biden urged Congress to restore the abortion protections of Roe v. Wade after the Supreme Court overturned the landmark decision.
From the White House, Biden gave a speech following the Supreme Court’s announcement about Roe, which protected “a woman’s right to choose” and “her right to make intensely personal decisions with her doctor, free from interference of politics”.
He noted that Roe “reaffirmed basic principles of equality that women have the power to control their own destiny, and to reinforce the fundamental right of privacy”.
“Let me be very clear and unambiguous: the only way we can secure a woman’s right to choose—the balance that existed—is for Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade as federal law,” the president said. “No executive action from the president can do that”.
Biden encouraged voters to ” make their voices heard” in November’s midterm elections, urging them to “elect more senators, representatives who will codify a woman’s right to choose in the federal law once again”.
“Elect more state leaders to protect this right at the local level,” he said. “We need to restore the protections of Roe as law of the land. We need to elect officials who will do that”. “Roe is on the ballot,” he added.
“Personal freedoms are on the ballot. The right to privacy, liberty, equality—they’re all on the ballot,” Biden continued “Until then, I will do all in my power to protect a woman’s right in states where they will face the consequences of today’s decision”.
The president also encouraged “everyone, no matter how deeply they care about this decision, to keep all protests peaceful, peaceful, peaceful, peaceful”.
“No intimidation. Violence is never acceptable,” Biden said “Threats and intimidation are not speech. We must stand against violence in any form regardless your rationale”.
“We end this opinion where we began. Abortion presents a profound moral question. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the court’s opinion.
“Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives,” he said.