Biden: Supreme Court Roe Decision ‘an Exercise in Raw Political Power’
President signs executive order on abortion rights
President Biden spoke out forcefully Friday against the decision last month by the right-wing block on the US Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade, and upend nearly a half century of national abortion rights.
The president's remarks — made with Vice President Kamala Harris and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra standing by his side — represent some of his toughest rhetoric since the high court cast aside the 1973 landmark ruling which gave all American women access to abortion services.
Biden on Friday also signed an executive order aimed at protecting access to reproductive health services in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and eliminating the constitutional right to an abortion.
Biden, and other top Democrats, have been saying that the fight for abortion rights now moves to the ballot box in the November midterm elections.
“The practice of medicine should not — I will emphasize — should not be frozen in the 19th century. So what happened? A dissenting opinion says as clear as you can possibly say it, and here is the quote: ‘neither in law nor facts nor attitudes have provided any new reason to reach a different result than Roe and Casey did. And all that’s changed is this court,’ end of quote,” Biden said, in reference to the 1992 Casey decision in which the Supreme Court reaffirmed Roe.
“All that’s changed is this court. That wasn’t about the Constitution or the law. It was about a deep, long-seething antipathy toward Roe and the broader right to privacy,” the president added. “As the justices wrote in their dissent, and I quote: ‘The majority has overruled Roe and Casey for one and only one reason, because it has always despised them and now it has the votes to discard them,’ end of quote. So, what we’re witnessing wasn’t a constitutional judgment, it was an exercise in raw political power.”
Since the court overturned Roe, abortion rights and services have been thrown into turmoil over much of the nation, where Republicans dominate state governments.
The executive order Biden signed Friday attempts to safeguard access to medication abortion and emergency contraception, protect patient privacy, launch public education efforts as well as bolster the security of and the legal options available to those seeking and providing abortion services.
However, the White House has rejected other, more aggressive steps to ensure safe access to abortion, such as including allowing abortion providers to work from federal property in states where the procedure is banned. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said using federal lands for abortion services would have "dangerous ramifications."
The White House has also reiterated the president does not support expanding the Supreme Court, as many progressives have pushed for.
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