President Joe Biden condemned the Supreme Court's "extreme decision" to overturn Roe v. Wade, which had guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion, on the 51st anniversary of the landmark ruling.
In a statement posted on the White House website, Biden said "tens of millions of women" live in states that had "extreme and dangerous abortion bans" as a result of which "women's health and lives are at risk."
The Supreme Court ruling reversing the Roe v. Wade judgment was released on June 24, 2022, sparking both celebration and protest on the streets of Washington, D.C.
Biden's statement said: "Fifty-one years ago today, the Supreme Court recognized a woman's constitutional right to make deeply personal decisions with her doctor—free from the interference of politicians. Then, a year and a half ago, the Court made the extreme decision to overturn Roe and take away a constitutional right.
"As a result, tens of millions of women now live in states with extreme and dangerous abortion bans. Because of Republican elected officials, women's health and lives are at risk. In states across the country, women are being turned away from emergency rooms, forced to go to court to seek permission for the medical attention they need, and made to travel hundreds of miles for health care."
The president continued: "Even as Americans—from Ohio to Kentucky to Michigan to Kansas to California—have resoundingly rejected attempts to limit reproductive freedom, Republican elected officials continue to push for a national ban and devastating new restrictions across the country."
Biden also reiterated his call for Congress to enshrine abortion access in federal law, saying: " On this day and every day, Vice President Harris and I are fighting to protect women's reproductive freedom against Republicans officials' dangerous, extreme, and out-of-touch agenda. We stand with the vast majority of Americans who support a woman's right to choose, and continue to call on Congress to restore the protections of Roe in federal law once and for all."
The Supreme Court ruling of June 2022 pushed abortion up the political agenda and was widely blamed for the Republicans' worse-than-expected performance at the November 2022 midterm elections; the forecasted "red wave" didn't materialize and the GOP failed to take control of the Senate.
Speaking at a Fox News-hosted town hall earlier this month, Donald Trump, who appointed three Supreme Court justices during his presidency, said he was "proud" of his role in overturning Roe v. Wade. The 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner commented: "Nobody else was going to get that done but me, and we did it. We did something that is a miracle."
Monday marks the 40th anniversary of National Sanctity of Human Life Day, an occasion marked by anti-abortion advocacy groups and religious organizations which was first declared by then-President Ronald Reagan on January 22, 1984. It has been endorsed by every Republican president since.
Speaking at the annual anti-abortion "March for Life" in Washington, D.C., on Friday, House Speaker Mike Johnson told the crowd he was grateful his mother hadn't aborted him when she was a teenager.
"I am myself the product of an unplanned pregnancy," Johnson said. "In January of 1972, exactly one year before Roe v. Wade, my parents, who were just teenagers at the time, chose life, and I am very profoundly grateful that they did."
Update 01/22/24, 9:32 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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James Bickerton is a Newsweek U.S. News reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is covering U.S. politics and world ... Read more
