What Joe Biden Is Asking Americans To Do Following The Roe V. Wade Decision
It has been nearly 50 years since Roe v. Wade made it a constitutional right for a person to choose whether or not they wanted to terminate a pregnancy, but in a landmark June 24 decision by the Supreme Court, that right has been overturned, per NPR. Making abortion a state issue and not a federally protected one has resulted in an immediate ban on abortion rights in states across the country that already had laws on the books, per The New York Times. For weeks, many have awaited this ruling after the leaked majority opinion in early May, according to CNN.
Now with the official ruling, people are definitely fired up about it on both sides. Anti-abortion and pro-abortion rights demonstrators are gathering in front of the Supreme Court, per Fortune. And of course, alongside everyday people taking to social media, politicians and public figures are speaking out as well. Former Vice President Mike Pence sees the decision as a win, per Breitbart, while Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi released a statement decrying the decision. Michelle and Barack Obama also both tweeted about their disappointment.
President Joe Biden also posted to Twitter his frustration at having a constitutional right taken away from people. He also addressed the nation from the White House and provided a plan of action.
Joe Biden wants people to elect officials who will make abortion legal
In President Joe Biden's remarks to the nation from the White House, he called it a "sad day for the court and for the country" (per YouTube). He went on to discuss the importance of the 7 to 2 Roe v. Wade decision and how it has helped protect women's privacy and autonomy of their lives and health over decades. However, he also noted that this decision "doesn't mean the fight's over."
Biden outlined next steps, acknowledging that he can't unilaterally as president enact any executive action that will make the right to an abortion a federal law. Congress has to pass legislation to do that, and if the current Congress won't do it, voters should elect those who will. "This fall, Roe is on the ballot," Biden said. Nancy Pelosi also emphasized in her statement on the ruling that how people vote in the midterm elections will have a major impact on women's rights.
What Biden said that his administration will do in the face of this ruling is to help keep contraception accessible to women as well as keeping it accessible for women to be able to travel from a state where abortion is banned to one where it isn't in order to get the procedure.