President Joe Biden spoke from the Cross Hall of the White House after the United States Supreme Court overturns Roe V Wade and ends the federal right to abortion in America. It was a somber speech loaded with historical references and unkind criticism of the Supreme Court Judges’ decision to override an established law of the land.
President Biden said, “Today, the Supreme Court of the United States expressly took away a constitutional right from the American people that it had already recognized. They didn’t limit it. They simply took it away. That’s never been done to a right so important to so many Americans. But they did it. And it’s a sad day for the Court and for the country.”
Biden looked back on the history of Roe v Wade Law and said “Fifty years ago, Roe v. Wade was decided and has been the law of the land since then. This landmark case protected a woman’s right to choose, her right to make intensely personal decisions with her doctor, free from interference of politics.
“It reaffirmed basic principles of equality — that women have the power to control their own destiny. And it reinforced the fundamental right of privacy — the right of each of us to choose how to live our lives. Now, with Roe gone, let’s be very clear: The health and life of women in this nation are now at risk.
“As Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, as Vice President and now as President of the United States, I’ve studied this case carefully. I’ve overseen more Supreme Court confirmations than anyone today, where this case was always discussed. I believe Roe v. Wade was the correct decision as a matter of constitutional law, an application of the fundamental right to privacy and liberty in matters of family and personal autonomy.
“It was a decision on a complex matter that drew a careful balance between a woman’s right to choose earlier in her pregnancy and the state’s ability to regulate later in her pregnancy. A decision with broad national consensus that most Americans of faiths and backgrounds found acceptable and that had been the law of the land for most of the lifetime of Americans today.”
President Biden informed his supporters that executive power cannot secure abortion. But through voters electing law makers that can pass a law to secure the right to abortion: “The only way we can secure a woman’s right to choose…is for Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade as federal law. No executive action from the president can do that.”
And he said “This fall, Roe is on the ballot.”
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