President Joe Biden said the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade should motivate "voters to elect pro-choice officials" in the midterm elections.
Biden's comments come after a leaked draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito indicated the Supreme Court will side with Mississippi in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case.
LEAKED DRAFT OPINION SIGNALS SUPREME COURT WILL OVERTURN ROE V. WADE
Biden wrote in a statement Tuesday morning that he does not know "whether this draft is genuine, or whether it reflects the final decision of the Court."
"My administration argued strongly before the Court in defense of Roe v. Wade," the president continued. "I believe that a woman’s right to choose is fundamental, Roe has been the law of the land for almost fifty years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned."
He noted that following Texas's passage of SB 8, he directed his "Gender Policy Council and White House Counsel’s Office to prepare options for an Administration response to the continued attack on abortion and reproductive rights, under a variety of possible outcomes in the cases pending before the Supreme Court," and vowed to "be ready when any ruling is issued."
"If the Court does overturn Roe, it will fall on our nation’s elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman’s right to choose. And it will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November," Biden closed. "At the federal level, we will need more pro-choice Senators and a pro-choice majority in the House to adopt legislation that codifies Roe, which I will work to pass and sign into law."
Unlike a number of other top Democrats, the White House did not offer an initial response to the leaked opinion Monday night.
"If the report is accurate, the Supreme Court is poised to inflict the greatest restriction of rights in the past fifty years — not just on women but on all Americans," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote in a joint statement. "The Republican-appointed Justices’ reported votes to overturn Roe v. Wade would go down as an abomination, one of the worst and most damaging decisions in modern history."
“Several of these conservative Justices, who are in no way accountable to the American people, have lied to the United States Senate, ripped up the Constitution and defiled both precedent and the Supreme Court’s reputation — all at the expense of tens of millions of women who could soon be stripped of their bodily autonomy and the constitutional rights they’ve relied on for half a century," they continued. “The party of Lincoln and Eisenhower has now completely devolved into the party of Trump."
The court's decision, first reported in a leaked opinion draft by Politico, will not be final until published during the summer session and could change. It is also not known how Chief Justice John Roberts will vote.
Biden is heading to Alabama on Tuesday to deliver remarks about U.S. support for Ukraine at the Lockheed Martin facility in Troy, Alabama.
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White House officials did not say whether or not the president will address the leaked draft during the speech itself.