Biden says Supreme Court placed women’s ‘health and lives’ at risk by ending Roe
Katherine Doyle
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President Joe Biden lashed out at the Supreme Court over its vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, charging that conservative justices have risked the lives of women by rolling back the five-decade ruling which legalized abortion nationwide.
“[Seven] months ago, a conservative majority on the Supreme Court overturned Roe. Never before has the Court taken away a right so fundamental to Americans,” Biden wrote in a proclamation commemorating 50 years since the court ruled to enshrine Roe. “In doing so, it put the health and lives of women across this Nation at risk.”
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Biden added, “Today, trailblazers who fought heroically for the Roe v. Wade decision are watching the next generation grow up without its protections.”
The court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision eliminated federal protections for abortion last summer, drawing backlash from the White House and Democrats and shaking up the 2022 elections. It is expected to remain a partisan wedge in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential elections after Democrats yielded better-than-expected results in the midterm elections.
Ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Roe ruling, the White House is ramping up its response, including a speech by Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday.
In his Friday proclamation, Biden urged recognition for abortion rights advocates and the “countless women whose lives and futures have been saved and shaped by the Roe v. Wade decision.”
The president also urged Congress to pass legislation enshrining nationwide abortion rights and said his administration would continue to provide reproductive care to women.
Last year, Biden urged voters to put Roe “on the ballot” and dispatched Harris across the country to rouse Democrats to the polls.
In a statement following a leak of the draft decision, Harris charged that “opponents of Roe” wanted “to punish women and take away their rights.” Later, she condemned the ruling as a “war on women’s rights.”
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Yet, activists grew frustrated by the administration’s response and its limited alternatives to the court’s original ruling.
It also provided an opening for criticism from prominent elected Democrats, who seized on the party’s handling of the issue to court national attention.