WASHINGTON (Fwrd Axis) — President Joe Biden warned on Friday about the possibility of a national ban on abortion if Republicans win control of Congress in the November midterm elections, continuing his push to make the overturning of Roe v. Wade a key issue this fall.
Speaking to nine Democratic governors, the President said he wants to find new ways to protect abortion rights but warns none of it will happen if the GOP take control of the House, Senate, or both as projected this fall.
“I predict — if we don’t keep the Senate and increase [Democratic control] in the House, we’re going to be in a situation where the Republicans are going to pass a nationwide prohibition, consistent with what the Supreme Court ruled,” Biden said.
Joining Biden on the call were New York’s Kathy Hochul, New Mexico’s Michelle Lujan Grisham, Illinois’ JB Pritzker, Colorado’s Jared Polis, Connecticut’s Ned Lamont, North Carolina’s Roy Cooper, Oregon’s Kate Brown, Rhode Island’s Daniel McKee and Washington’s Jay Inslee. All nine governors still allow abortions to take place in their states, which are expected to see an influx of visitors once the abortion ban in the respective conservative states comes into play.
“I share the public outrage of this extremist court that’s committed to moving America backward, with fewer rights and less autonomy,” Biden said.
The President added the Justice Department will work to protect the ability to cross state lines for abortion services as well as protect access to contraceptives.
Biden also admitted Democrats currently lack the votes to change legislative filibuster to pass abortion rights legislation. Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have both repeatedly been against getting rid of the filibuster.
“Ultimately, Congress is going to have to act to codify Roe into federal law,” he said. “The filibuster should not stand in the way of us being able to do that, but right now we don’t have the votes in the Senate to change the filibuster and that means we need two more votes.”
The news comes just one day after Biden said he would support making an exception to the Senate’s filibuster rules to allow Democrats to pass key abortion rights protections amid the controversial decision by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“I believe we have to codify Roe v. Wade into law. And the way to do that is to make sure that the Congress votes to do that and if the filibuster gets in the way, it’s like voting rights, it should be … an exception … to the filibuster for this action to deal with the Supreme Court decision,” the President said.
