Biden Announces Codifying Roe Will Be His Top Legislative Priority If Democrats Sweep Midterms
President Biden announced in a Tuesday speech that his top legislative priority after the midterms will be codifying a national right to abortion, should the Democratic Party retain control of the House and expand its Senate footprint.
“Here is the promise I make to you and the American people, the first bill I’ll send to Congress is to codify Roe v. Wade,” Biden said during remarks at the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C.
The move is intended to galvanize support among Democratic and independent women as his polling numbers slump ahead of November’s midterm elections. Earlier in his speech, Biden said the Supreme Court’s ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization “practically dared” women to turn out because it handed back to states the right to determine their own abortion policies.
Brian Burch, President of CatholicVote, strongly denounced the announcement. “Catholics are appalled by the unprecedented abortion extremism pursued by the nation’s second Catholic President. While Americans struggle with record inflation, the President of the United States has nothing to offer but a pledge to expand the right to violently destroy innocent unborn children – up until birth and for any reason.”
Similar sentiments were echoed by Jeanne Mancini, the President of March for Life. “President Biden’s desperate attempt to sway voters by pushing painful abortions is clear evidence of how out of touch he is. Ninety percent of Americans reject Biden’s view that abortion should be legal up until birth for any reason – paid for by taxpayers.”
Democrats’ attempt to distract from economic fears by appealing to cultural issues such as abortion hasn’t borne fruit thus far, though, especially among the independent women who should be most receptive to the messaging. The Biden administration has suffered a dramatic shift in popularity amongst politically unaffiliated women in recent weeks, going from a 14 point advantage in September to an 18 point deficit in a recent New York Times/Siena College poll.
Biden’s speech painted Republicans as extremists on the issue of abortion. Although the vast majority of the Republican caucus declined to support Senator Lindsey Graham’s recently introduced 15-week abortion ban, Biden noted in the speech that if such a proposed law made it to his desk, “I’ll veto it.”
Republican candidates in competitive races have largely shied away from discussing abortion in favor of focusing on more salient issues for swing voters, such as inflation and crime.
If the promised legislation were to pass in Congress, Biden said he will sign it in next year, on the 50th anniversary of the Roe decision.
