Last Updated on June 24, 2022
President Biden criticized the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe V. Wade in a statement Friday, calling the move a “tragic error.”
“The court has done what it has never done before — expressly take away a constitutional right that is so fundamental to so many Americans,” Biden said in a White House statement. “It’s a realization of an extreme ideology and a tragic error by the Supreme Court in my view.”
Despite Biden’s comments, there is nothing in the constitution that guarantees abortion as a right.
The president went on to detail ways that his administration and political allies will continue to make abortions accessible. He did acknowledge that there was only so much that he can do now that the issue has been kicked back to state legislatures, however.
The only way to ensure abortion access “is for Congress to restore the protections of Roe V. Wade as federal law,” he said. “No executive action from the president can do that.”
Biden also commented on actions being undertaken by a number of red states to ban the practice of abortion, saying they are “jeopardizing the health of millions of women.” He further accused state legislatures of allowing women to be “punished for protecting their health” and forcing women to “bear their rapist’s child.”
In addition to the president’s comments, the DOJ released a statement condemning the Supreme Court’s decision.
“The Supreme Court has eliminated an established right that has been an essential component of women’s liberty for half a century – a right that has safeguarded women’s ability to participate fully and equally in society,” Attorney General Merrick Garland wrote in a statement. “And in renouncing this fundamental right, which it had repeatedly recognized and reaffirmed, the Court has upended the doctrine of stare decisis, a key pillar of the rule of law.”
“The Justice Department strongly disagrees with the Court’s decision. This decision deals a devastating blow to reproductive freedom in the United States,” Garland added. “It will have an immediate and irreversible impact on the lives of people across the country. And it will be greatly disproportionate in its effect – with the greatest burdens felt by people of color and those of limited financial means.”
Attorney General Garland has yet to comment on far-left groups who have promised violence in response to the ruling.