Abortions have been allowed in the United States for almost 50 years as a constitutionally protected right since the high-profile case “Roe v. Wade” in 1973. That right was revoked in June. The right to abortion is no longer considered to be constitutionally protected and individual states have been able to ban abortions since 24 June.
Joe Biden has been clear that there is no legal action he can take as president to reverse HD’s decision, but that the fastest way to “restore Roe” would have been to write a new law.
– I will sign such a law at the same time as it is on my desk, he says.
The Supreme Court is “out of control”
President Biden, together with party comrades in the Democratic Party, has criticized the decision very loudly and is now countering with a presidential order that aims to protect the right to free abortion in the country.
“We can not allow an out-of-control Supreme Court, working with the Republican Party’s most extreme representatives, to deprive people of their freedom and self-determination,” Biden said in a speech in the Roosevelt Chamber on Friday.
An exercise of “raw political power”
Through the order, he gives the Ministry of Health the task of protecting the right to abortion pills and contraceptives. Furthermore, a special task force will also be established to protect access to reproductive care, according to CNN. The Ministry of Health now has 30 days to submit a report which in turn describes how the various parts of the presidential order can be implemented in practice.
Joe Biden further says that he has asked the Ministry of Justice to do “everything in its power to protect women who want to exercise their rights.” He further calls HD’s decision “extreme” and “completely wrong”.
– The constitution was not the driving force in the Supreme Court’s decision, it was an exercise of raw political power, says Biden.