President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he will prioritize codifying the rights of Roe v. Wadeshould the Democrats add to their Congressional majority in the midterm elections.
“The court got Roe right nearly 50 years ago and I believe the Congress should codify Roe, once and for all,” Biden said at a Democratic National Committee speech at the Howard Theatre in Washington, D.C.
“If we do that, here’s the promise I make to you and the American people: The first bill I will send to the Congress will be to codify Roe v. Wade,” the President continued. “And when Congress passes it, I’ll sign it in January, 50 years after Roe was first decided the law of the land.”
The Supreme Court overturned the landmark abortion rights case back in June, returning the right to individual states to decide on reproductive laws.
One of Biden’s campaign promises was to codify abortion rights, but the evenly split Senate and centrist Sens. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona) have blocked the President’s attempts at working around the 60-vote threshold to pass the legislation. Biden would need Democrats to flip at least two seats for a chance at passing the bill.
Biden made a plea to voters, “The final say does not rest in the court now. It does not rest with extreme Republicans in Congress. It rests with you.”
Polls indicate the Democrats’ chances of adding to their Senate numbers are unlikely. Republicans currently hold a projected 49-45 lead in the generic Congressional ballot question heading into the elections, according to a New York Times-Siena College poll.
