REPEAL RIPPLE EFFECTS
Biden assails ‘extreme’ ruling, warns same-sex marriage, birth control access could also be at risk
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Friday he would fight to preserve access to abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and he called on Americans to elect more Democrats who would safeguard rights upended by the court’s decision. “This is not over,” he declared.
“Let’s be very clear: The health and life of women across this nation are now at risk,” he said from the White House on what he called “a sad day for the court and the country.”
Biden added that “the court has done what it’s never done before — expressly taking away a constitutional right that is so fundamental to so many Americans.”
Republicans and conservative leaders celebrated the culmination of a decadeslong campaign to undo the nationwide legalization of abortion that began with Roe v. Wade in 1973.
“Millions of Americans have spent half a century praying, marching and working toward today’s historic victories for the rule of law and for innocent life,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., an architect of efforts to tilt the Supreme Court to the right.
Although Biden has previously expressed conflicted feelings about abortion, he delivered a forceful defense Friday. Noting that Republican-controlled states now had a clear path to ban abortion even in cases of incest or rape, he said “it just stuns me.”
Biden emphasized that the court decision does not prevent anyone from traveling to end a pregnancy.
“Women must remain free to travel safely to another state to seek the care they need,” he said. “And my administration will defend that bedrock right.”
Biden warned that other legal precedents ensuring same-sex marriage and access to birth control could also be at risk.
“This is an extreme and dangerous path this court is taking us on,” he said.
The White House and the Justice Department said they would look for ways to blunt the impact of the ruling, and Biden said his administration would try to ensure that abortion medication is available as widely as possible.
However, no executive actions were announced Friday, and Biden conceded that his options were limited.
Critics slam Collins over confirmations
PORTLAND, Maine — Sen. Susan Collins was blasted Friday for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, as opponents targeted her votes to confirm two justices to the Supreme Court who were in the majority opinion allowing states to ban abortion.
Critics of the Maine senator haven’t forgotten the key role she played in confirming Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, and she was ripped anew on social media.
The senator said in a statement Friday that she had received assurances from Kavanaugh and Gorsuch that Roe v. Wade was an established legal precedent.
“Throwing out a precedent overnight that the country has relied upon for half a century is not conservative,” she said. “It is a sudden and radical jolt to the country that will lead to political chaos, anger, and a further loss of confidence in our government.”