Joe Biden signs executive order on abortion protection, calls US Supreme Court ‘out of control’
- The president urged voters to elect pro-abortion rights legislators in the midterms, saying the fastest route to restore Roe vs Wade is to codify it into law
- Accused of inaction and under pressure to take a harder line, Biden is offering fresh but limited measures to bolster reproductive rights
US President Joe Biden said on Friday that federal legislation offered the fastest route to restoring abortion rights and urged voters to elect legislators who would protect these rights in upcoming elections as he used executive power to order new measures to secure reproductive freedoms.
Condemning the “terrible, extreme” decision by the Supreme Court to remove the constitutional right to an abortion, Biden said the most effective response would be made at the ballot box in the November midterm elections by electing lawmakers to give him firm control of the legislature he now lacks.
“The fastest route to restore Roe is to pass a national law codifying Roe, which I will sign immediately upon its passage at my desk. We cannot wait,” Biden said, referring to the 1973 Roe vs Wade ruling that established the right to abortion.
“We cannot allow an out of control Supreme Court working in conjunction with extremist elements of the Republican Party to take away freedoms and our personal autonomy,” he said.
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Protests across US after Supreme Court's decision to overturn abortion rights
Under pressure to take a harder line on defending abortion access, Biden signed an executive order offering fresh but limited measures to bolster reproductive rights.