Joe Biden: Congress Must Move to Protect Abortion Rights
2020 hopeful weighs on recent abortion bills sweeping country
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2020 Presidential candidate Joe Biden said that Congress must move to preserve abortion rights in federal law following recent bills passed by state legislatures around the country, most notably Alabama.
"Vice President Biden firmly believes that Roe v. Wade is the law of the land and should not be overturned," a campaign spokesperson said in a statement.
"Georgia, Alabama, and Missouri are passing extreme laws in order to prevent a woman to be able to have an abortion under virtually any circumstance. Roe v. Wade lays out a constitutional guarantee that a woman can, in fact, make a choice between she and her doctor. Biden believes that codifying Roe through legislation must be pursued."
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The campaign statement comes as calls for members of Congress to take action on the issue following the Alabama bill last week.
Democrats like 2020 hopeful Sen.Cory Booker of New Jersey recently slammed Georgia's “fetal heartbeat bill” as an assault on women and claiming “abortion is healthcare.”
Other Democratic candidates have expressed support for laws to codify Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling that cemented the right to have an abortion.
This list includes:
- Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.)Cory Booker (N.J.)
- Elizabeth Warren (Mass.)
- Beto O'Rourke (Texas)
- Sen. Mike Gravel (Alaska)
- Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.
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According to The Hill: Even many Republicans have distanced themselves from the law, with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who supports abortion rights, calling it "very extreme" and "terrible."
Other states mentioned by Biden's campaign, such as Georgia, have passed similarly strict laws on abortion.
The laws come amid a broader movement by anti-abortion activists to get the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade by revisiting a component of the ruling saying states can't place certain restrictions on women to undergo the procedure.
Other Democratic candidates have not been as aggressive on the issue as their opponents. South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg said this week the idea to codify Roe v. Wade should be "taken seriously" but did not explicitly say whether he would back it.
Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.) also has not weighed in on the issue in great detail, though she has said that "reproductive rights are not just protected by the Constitution of the United States but guaranteed in every state."
