U.S. President Joe Biden said this week that the first bill he’ll send to Congress after the midterm elections will be one to codify Roe v. Wade, if voters are able to elect enough Democratic supporters.
“And when Congress passes it, I’ll sign it in January, 50 years after Roe was first decided the law of the land,” he told attendees during a political event held Tuesday at Washington D.C.’s Howard Theatre.
This summer the U.S. Supreme Court delivered the unpopular Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health opinion that overturned decades of reproductive choice protections established by the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade case.
“The anger, the worry, the disbelief, the unbelievable fact that for the first time in our history, the Supreme Court didn’t just fail to preserve a constitutional freedom, it actually took away the right that was so fundamental to Americans,” Biden said Tuesday of the Dobbs opinion. “It took away a right.”
Since the Dobbs opinion, Democrats have made moves to codify those lost abortion protections. In May, shortly after a leaked version of the Dobbs opinion was published in POLITICO, lawmakers attempted to codify abortion rights and failed. In August, senators introduced a new bill that would codify reproductive rights.
In order to pass, legislation would need 60 votes to get past the filibuster. When legislation attempts failed back in May, all 50 Republicans voted against the bill as well as Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
“Right now, we’re short a handful of votes,” Biden said Tuesday. “If you care about the right to choose, then you got to vote. That’s why, in these midterm elections, it’s so critical to elect more Democratic senators to the United States Senate and more Democrats to keep control of the House of Representatives.”
According to projections from FiveThirtyEight, Democrats are slightly expected to keep their slim majority in the Senate, which includes Vice President Kamala Harris. While Democrats also have a majority in the House, Republicans are projected to win a majority there in the midterms.
“If you do your part and vote for Democratic leaders in Congress, I promise you we’ll do our part,” Biden said. “I’ll do my part.”
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