After the U.S. Supreme Court this morning overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, ending nearly 50 years of constitutional protections for abortion in the country, the President Joseph Biden said that "the health and lives of the women of this nation are at risk".
During a statement from the White House, the president said that this decision is the culmination of a deliberate effort over decades of balancing, driven by an extremist ideology.
"It is the realization of an extreme ideology in a tragic mistake by the Supreme Court. In my opinion, the court has done, what it has never done before, expressly taken away a constitutional right," he said.
"Today, the U.S. Supreme Court expressly took away from the American people a constitutional right they had already recognized. They did not limit it. They simply took it away. They've never done that with a right so important to so many Americans, but they did. And it's a sad day for the Court and for the country," he said.
Biden recalled that fifty years ago, Roe v. Wade was decided and has been the law of the land ever since. "This landmark case protected a woman's right to choose, her right to make intensely personal decisions with her doctor, free from interference from politics. It reaffirmed basic principles of equality: that women have the power to control their own destiny. And it reinforced the fundamental right to privacy: the right of each of us to choose how we live our lives.
He asserted that 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.
Biden explained that it was three judges appointed by a president - Donald Trump - who were at the heart of Friday's decision to upset the scales of justice and eliminate a fundamental right for women in this country.
"Make no mistake: This decision is the culmination of a decades-long, deliberate effort to upset the balance of our law. It is the realization of extreme ideology and a tragic mistake by the Supreme Court, in my opinion."
He detailed that the Court's decision will have real and immediate consequences. State laws banning abortion are automatically taking effect today, endangering the health of millions of women, some without exception.
"So extreme that women could be punished for protecting their health. So extreme that women and girls who are forced to give birth to their rapist's child, that just boggles my mind. So extreme that doctors will be criminalized for doing their duty of care."
Very often, she noted in her speech in the morning, poor women are the most affected. " It's cruel."
In fact, the Court laid the groundwork for state laws criminalizing abortion dating back to the 1800s, "the Court literally going back to the U.S. 150 years."
"It's a sad day for the country, in my opinion, but it doesn't mean the fight is over."
In that regard, he noted that the only way to ensure a woman's right to choose and the balance that existed is for Congress to reinstate the protections of Roe v. Wade as federal law.
"No executive action by the president can do that. And if Congress, as it appears, lacks the votes to do so now, voters must make their voices heard. This fall, we must elect more senators and representatives who will codify a woman's right to choose into federal law once again, elect more state leaders to protect this right at the local level. We must restore Roe's protections as the law of the land. We need to elect officials who will do so."
The president explained that the decision to reinstate and make Roe v. Wade into federal law will be on the ballot this fall, putting personal liberties, the right to privacy, freedom and equality on the ballot, "it's all on the ballot."
"Until then, I will do everything in my power to protect the right of women in states where they face the consequences of today's decision."
And, he pointed out, although the Court's decision casts a dark shadow over a large swath of the territory, many states in this country continue to recognize a woman's right to choose.
Therefore, if a woman lives in a state that restricts abortion, the Supreme Court's decision does not prevent her from traveling from her state to a state that allows it, and it does not prevent a doctor in that state from treating her.
"As the Attorney General has made clear, women must remain free to safely travel to another state to seek the care they need. And my administration will defend that fundamental right."
"If any state or local official, high or low, attempts to interfere with a woman's exercise of her basic right to travel, I will do everything in my power to fight that profoundly un-American attack."
He assured that his administration will also protect women's access to Food and Drug Administration-approved medications, such as contraceptives, which are essential for preventive health care; mifepristone, which the FDA approved 20 years ago to safely terminate early pregnancies and is commonly used to treat miscarriages; and mifepristone, which the FDA approved 20 years ago to safely terminate early pregnancies and is commonly used to treat miscarriages.
Notably, some states are saying that they will attempt to ban or severely restrict access to these drugs.
The American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists stressed that such laws are not evidence-based and that by limiting access to these drugs, maternal mortality will increase in the United States.
"Today, I am directing the Department of Health and Human Services to take steps to ensure that these critical medications are available to the greatest extent possible and that politicians cannot interfere with decisions that must be made between a woman and her doctor. And my administration will remain vigilant about the implications of this decision."
Joseph Biden warned that the Supreme Court's decision "jeopardizes everyone's right to privacy," including the right to make the best decisions for their health, the right to use birth control, and the right to marry the person they love.
"This is an extreme and dangerous path that the Court is now leading us down."
Finally, the president called for protests against the decision to be peaceful and without intimidation. "Violence is never acceptable. Threats and intimidation are not a discourse. We must oppose violence in any of its forms, regardless of its justification."
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