Joe Biden Says Federally Protecting Abortion Is a Top Priority Next Year
President Joe Biden said this week that an abortion protection bill will be the first proposal he sends to Capitol Hill next year if the Democrats win enough seats to hold a majority in Congress, giving the proposed law a higher chance of passing.
According to the Associated Press, Biden’s promise comes after the Supreme Court decided in June to overturn Roe v. Wade, which previously legalized abortion federally. Abortion regulations are now decided at the state level.
“I want to remind us all how we felt when 50 years of constitutional precedent was overturned,” Biden said on Tuesday at the Howard Theatre, “the anger, the worry, the disbelief.”
He encouraged Democrats to vote because “if you care about the right to choose, then you gotta vote.”
“We’re short a handful of votes,” he said of Congress.
To reinstate abortion access at the federal level, Congress would need to approve the legislation.
“If we do that, here’s the promise I make to you and the American people: The first bill that I will send to the Congress will be to codify Roe v. Wade,” Biden said. “And when Congress passes it, I’ll sign it in January, 50 years after Roe was first decided the law of the land.”
Democrats would need to keep control of the House after midterm elections and also earn seats in the Senate, a prospect that experts say is unlikely.
Democrats could also attempt to abolish the filibuster, the legislative law that requires 60 votes for bills to advance in the Senate, but political experts have also said Democrats are divided on that issue as well.
For example, two moderate Democrats, Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, Ariz., and Joe Manchin, W.Va., have said they support keeping the filibuster.
Meanwhile, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said this week that the stakes of next month’s elections “could not be higher.”
“Doubling down on an extreme agenda of abortion on demand until birth won’t stop Democrats from losing Congress, even with the abortion industry spending record sums to elect them,” Dannenfelser said. “Biden’s party is on the wrong side and stunningly out of touch.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Drew Angerer/Staff
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
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