Biden warns of nationwide abortion ban with GOP midterm win
President Biden said Friday that Republicans would attempt to impose a federal abortion ban if they win control of the House and Senate in November’s midterm elections.
“We either elect federal senators and representatives who will codify Roe, or Republicans will elect a House and Senate that will try to ban abortion nationwide — nationwide,” Biden said at a virtual event with nine Democratic governors, including Kathy Hochul of New York.
“This is going to go one way or the other after November,” the president warned.
Biden spoke exactly one week after the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade and returned abortion policy to the states, resulting in many Republican-led states dramatically restricting the procedure.
If Republicans retake Congress and pass abortion restrictions, Biden would likely veto the legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto, but only by a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate.
On Thursday, Biden attacked the Supreme Court’s five-justice majority that reversed the Roe ruling, saying at a press conference in Madrid, “The one thing that has been destabilizing is the outrageous behavior of the Supreme Court of the United States.”
Republicans promptly slammed Biden for attacking another branch of the US government while overseas, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) calling the president’s remarks “unmerited and dangerous.”
Polls suggest that Republicans are poised to make significant gains in the House and Senate — both of which are held by razor-thin Democratic majorities.
Public anger at the worst inflation since 1981 and record gas prices have depressed Biden’s approval rating and dragged down Democratic campaign fortunes.
Republicans generally favor greater restrictions on abortion access than Democrats, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said after the ruling that he would support a 15-week federal abortion ban if Republicans reclaim the majority, which would overrule the policies of states such as New York.
Democrats, meanwhile, hope to pass a federal law that expressly allows for greater abortion rights in all states.
But Biden noted Friday that Senate rules that require 60 votes for most legislation stand in the way. The Senate currently is divided 50-50 between the parties and although two Republican senators support abortion rights, centrists in both parties are unwilling to jettison the 60-vote threshold for such legislation.
“As I said yesterday, the filibuster should not stand in the way of us being able to [pass a federal abortion rights law]. But right now, we don’t have the votes in the Senate,” Biden said before calling for voters to elect two more Democrats willing to change the chamber’s rules.
