Speaking from the NATO summit in Madrid on Thursday, President Joe Biden condemned the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and called for an exception to the Senate filibuster to codify the federal right to abortion.
“We have to codify Roe v. Wade in the law, and the way to do that, is to make sure that Congress votes to do that,” Biden said in response to a question from a Wall Street Journal reporter. He called the Supreme Court’s ruling “outrageous” and insisted that an exception to the filibuster is warranted to ensure the passage of legislation protecting unrestricted abortion access.
Biden then claimed the court’s decision presents a problem for privacy in the U.S. more broadly, and called for voters to cast their ballots in November for pro-abortion candidates.
“I think it’s a serious, serious problem that the court has thrust upon the United States, not just in terms of the right to choose, but in terms of the right of who you can marry, and a whole range of issues related to privacy,” the president said, adding that he will do “everything” he can to codify the federal right to abortion through Congress.
“Vote. Show up and vote. Vote in the off-year and vote, vote vote. That’s how we’ll change” the court’s decision, Biden said.
In response to Biden’s call to abolish the filibuster for this ruling in Congress, Democratic Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s office said she remains opposed to getting rid of the 60-vote requirement. The office pointed to an op-ed from the moderate Democrat, in which she said, “the filibuster compels moderation and helps protect the country from wild swings between opposing policy poles.”
Earlier in the press conference, Biden named Russia and China as the key adversaries of NATO, and repeatedly asked Russia to call off its invasion of Ukraine.
NATO formally invited Finland and Sweden into the military alliance Wednesday out of security concerns due to the Russia-Ukraine war. The decision came after Turkey signed a memorandum with the two Nordic countries Tuesday pledging it would support their membership.