President Biden during Tuesday night’s State of the Union address urged Congress to codify Roe v. Wade to counteract Republican states’ “extreme abortion bans,” also vowing to veto any national abortion restrictions that arrive at his desk.
“Congress must restore the right the Supreme Court took away last year and codify Roe v. Wade to protect every woman’s constitutional right to choose,” Biden said, according to a transcript of his prepared remarks. “The Vice President and I are doing everything we can to protect access to reproductive health care and safeguard patient privacy. But already, more than a dozen states are enforcing extreme abortion bans.”
In early November, with control of the House hanging in the balance days after the midterm election, Biden said he didn’t think there’d be enough votes in Congress to enshrine Roe into law unless Democrats magically won more seats in late vote counting.
After the reversal of Roe, which nullified a constitutional right to abortion, multiple Republican-dominated state legislatures enacted bills that limited the procedure to the first trimester or the point when a fetal heartbeat is detected.
Biden during Tuesday night’s speech promised to veto any federal abortion ban that advances through Congress, now that the GOP commands the majority in the House.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America retorted that Biden’s claim that Republicans want such a ban is “pure disinformation.”
“What Republicans propose is that Congress debates and passes consensus protections for unborn children,” the organization said in a statement. “Democrats don’t want to have this debate because they support NO protections for the unborn. Not even from painful late-term abortions or even providing care for babies born alive after attempted abortions.”
House Democrats revealed just how extreme they’re willing to go on the abortion issue in January when they almost unanimously opposed a bill that would mandate that medical care be administered to infants who survive botched abortions. Only House Democrat, Henry Cuellar of Texas, voted for the legislation with Republicans. All House Democrats but three also rejected a resolution to condemn recent attacks on pro-life facilities, groups, and churches since Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Senator Lindsey Graham in September proposed a nationwide ban on abortions after 15 weeks, modeling the standard of certain Republican states.
“I think we should have a law at the federal level that would say, after 15 weeks, no abortion on demand except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother,” Graham said while unveiling the legislation. “And that should be where America is at.”
Biden has beat the “codify Roe” drum since the Court overturned the landmark decision. Over the summer, while the Democrats still controlled the House, Biden lobbied for an exception to the filibuster to ensure the passage of legislation protecting unrestricted abortion access. However, “no” votes from moderate Democratic senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema left that proposal dead in its tracks.
Ahead of the midterms in October, Biden pledged to make codifying a national right to abortion his top legislative priority, should the Democratic Party retain its power in the House and expand its Senate footprint. While it succeeded in the latter, it failed in the former, making Roe’s reinstatement an unlikely possibility in the next congressional session.