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US PRESIDENT JOE Biden has said that federal legislation offered the fastest route to restoring abortion rights and urged voters to elect pro-choice legislators in upcoming elections as he ordered new measures to secure reproductive freedoms.
Condemning the “terrible, extreme” decision by the Supreme Court to remove the constitutional right to an abortion, Biden said the most effective response would be made at the ballot box in the November midterm elections by electing lawmakers to give him firm control of the legislature he now lacks.
“The fastest route to restore Roe is to pass a national law codifying Roe, which I will sign immediately upon its passage at my desk. We cannot wait,” Biden said, referring to the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that established the right to abortion.
“We cannot allow an out of control Supreme Court working in conjunction with extremist elements of the Republican Party to take away freedoms and our personal autonomy,” he said.
Under pressure to take a harder line on defending abortion access, Biden signed an executive order offering fresh but limited measures to bolster women’s reproductive rights.
Biden has been criticised from within his own Democratic Party for perceived inaction since the Supreme Court ruling on 24 June.
After the court ruling, several states have banned or severely restricted abortion and others are expected to follow suit.
Many Democrats, often speaking anonymously in the press, have complained that Biden and his team have failed to respond adequately to the bombshell judgment by the Supreme Court.
On the day of the ruling, the administration seemed caught off guard even though a draft had been leaked weeks before.
The president announced two packages of regulatory measures on 24 June: on access to abortion pills and the rights of women to travel to another state for an abortion if their own state bans the procedure.
But, in a rare move, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre cancelled her daily briefing on the day.
Biden left shortly after on a trip to Europe, frustrating abortion-rights activists and lawmakers who were eager for more decisive action from the president.
Seeking to recover, Biden on Friday signed an executive order designed to protect women’s sensitive health-related data and “fight digital surveillance related to reproductive health care services.”
Advocacy groups are warning of the risks posed by women’s online data such as their geolocation and apps that monitor their menstrual cycles, which they say could be used to go after women who have had abortions.
Biden’s order also seeks to protect mobile clinics deployed to the borders of states that have banned abortion.
The administration also wants to guarantee access to contraception and abortion medication and set up a network of volunteer lawyers to help women on abortion issues, the White House said.
‘A man out of time?’
But these measures will have limited effect. Biden cannot do much to battle the Supreme Court or states hostile to him when he lacks a solid majority in Congress.
So Biden is calling on Americans to turn out in droves and vote Democrat in the midterm elections.
The goal is to codify the right to abortion as a federal law, which would nullify state decisions to ban the procedure.
But many Democrats fear this drive to get out the vote will flop. Biden is now an unpopular president and Americans’ biggest worry these days is sky-high inflation.
And beyond the abortion issue some Democrats wonder if Biden, 79, a centrist who shuns headline-grabbing action, has the ability to take on an aggressively conservative American right in an era of acute political tension.
All he has to do is look at press editorials of recent days, including ones in news outlets seen as sympathetic.
“Is Joe Biden the wrong president at the wrong time?” read a headline Thursday in The Washington Post, while The Atlantic magazine asked “Is Biden a Man out of Time?”
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Mr Biden clearly doesn’t understand Separation of Powers. Just because he disagrees with a ruling doesn’t mean the Court is out of control.
@Elrond Rivendell: separation of powers , what guff when you can stack it full of medivialests and a country house so you know what.
@Elrond Rivendell: he wasn’t shouting that when he agreed with other rulings
@Billybutcher: You can and may stack it as US Presidents from both sides of the aisle have done. One might argue that’s how Roe v Wade was passed in the first instance, when the US Supreme Court was stacked by Democrat nominees. You can’t have it both ways. By the by, separation of powers is not guff, it’s a fact.
@Billybutcher: blah blah screw the law no agree with me want leftist dictator asap.
@Elrond Rivendell: Oh clearly Joe Biden doesn’t understand separation of powers. Clearly. Such an imbecilic comment. Honestly; just stop.
@Elrond Rivendell: what Biden is doing is exactly the reason for the separation of powers lol. So one branch cannot rule like a dictator I.e SCOTUS
@Vonvonic: He does understand, it’s just theatre for his base. He knows he can do nothing unless Congress passes a law for him to sign.
@Billybutcher: ignorance is not a virtue key board warrior.
@Vonvonic: Sleepy Joe doesn’t understand much anymore, god love him.
@Vonvonic: Soooooooooooooo no substantive response only “just stop” and an imbecilic comment. Gotcha
Wowwww the US president is complaining that he can’t control the highest court in the country. That’s the idea of a democratic justice system. They must be free from political interference.
@Martin O Connell: I’m not going to go over how the Conservative majority of the SCOTUS came to be, because we all know how. As much due to cynical opportunism by the GOP as due to several consistent shortcomings by the Democrats. You see the problem is this: the SCOTUS membership and decisions are not reflective of American demographics and support for specific legal positions. It’s now out of step with American citizens as a whole, which clearly presents a problem. Now I don’t know about you, but any country in which a Supreme Court is making decisions (and actively proposing going after existing rulings) that aren’t reflective of the opinions of the majority of its citizens……and ignoring some deeply concerning statements and behavior by members and their close relations……….
@David A. Murray: wasn’t an issue when the shoe was on the other foot!!!! Trump came at a time where it gave the republicans the opportunity to stack the deck. Now don’t forget, Trump was a life long democrat supporter/funder before Hilary. They can’t change the rules just because they lost control. That’s not a democracy.
@David A. Murray: A court’s decisions are based on laws, not on demographic or political views. It’s easy to blame Trump for the decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade, but when you look into the reasons for the decision, you see that it is right and based on existing laws. Roe vs. Wade itself was based on a flawed argumentation. Now it’s the lawmaker’s turn. And if there is a demographic majority, the voters can decide about this matter in the next elections.
They should have set it into law when they had a super majority.
Passing new law is the role of Congress and is exactly how things should be done. Roe was junk law predicated on a ridiculous interpretation of the constitution. The courts have been standins for a functioning congress for decades
Maybe he just means it’s out of his control.
He needs to go too like bojo and trump. A list of very very ordinary leaders. The world needs better now
Supreme court is “out of control” means its too conservative for Joe. It was fine all along though.
The comments on the journal get more and more right wing all the time. Pro Putin, against abortion… and on it goes.
@Bríann O Connor: what wrong with being right wing?
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