Biden Blasts ‘Wrongheaded’ Overturning of Roe as Supreme Court Exercising ‘Raw Political Power,’ Says Dobbs was ‘Not Driven by the Constitution’

In a speech announcing an executive order he signed protecting access to abortion services, President Joe Biden blasted the recent Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, calling it a decision that was politically, not constitutionally, based.

Speaking from the Roosevelt Room Friday morning, Biden called Dobbs a “terrible, extreme, and, I think, totally wrongheaded decision.”

“This is not a decision driven by the Constitution,” he said, and then repeated for emphasis, and “in spite of what those justices in the majority said, this was not a decision driven by history.”

The majority opinion “rattles off laws from the 19th century to support the idea that Roe was a historic anomaly because states outlawed abortion in the 1880s,” the president continued, “but that is just wrong.”

That view, said Biden, was “playing fast and loose with the facts,” arguing that “even 150 years ago,” the common law in many states “did not criminalize abortion early in pregnancy, which is very similar to the viability line drawn by Roe.”

The Dobbs majority opinion “ignores that fact,” and that the goal of these laws was “to protect women when they were dying from unsafe abortions — this is the horrific reality that Roe sought to end.”

“The practice of medicine should not, I will emphasize, should not be frozen in the 19th century.” He declared the decision “was not about the Constitution, or the law — it was about a deep, long seated antipathy toward Roe and the broader right to privacy.”

Biden quoted from the dissent about how the law, facts, and attitudes about abortion had not changed, but the makeup of the Supreme Court had, and that was the reason for the decision to overturn these prior cases.

“The majority has overruled Roe and Casey for one and only one reason, because it has always despised them and now it has the votes to discard them,” said Biden. “What we are witnessing was not a constitutional judgment, it was an exercise in raw political power.”

Biden segued to urging pro-choice Americans to vote in November, saying that the majority opinion’s reasoning had made clear that there was “no constitutional right to choose,” and therefore “the only way to fulfill and restore that right for women in this country is by voting, by exercising the power at the ballot box.”

Democrats needed “two additional pro- choice senators and a pro- choice House to codify Roe as federal law,” said Biden. “Your vote can make that a reality.”

He acknowledged that many Democrats found this situation “frustrating” and were “very angry,” but “the truth is this — and it is not just me saying it — it’s what the court said.” The court “will not protect the rights of women, period,” and “made the decision based on a reading of the document that was frozen in time in the 1860s, when women didn’t even have the right to vote, the court now, practically dares the women of America to go to the ballot box and restore the very rights that they’ve just taken away.

According to a statement released by the White House, the executive order signed by Biden seeks to “defend reproductive rights” via the following actions:

Safeguarding access to reproductive health care services, including abortion and contraception;

Protecting the privacy of patients and their access to accurate information;

Promoting the safety and security of patients, providers, and clinics; and

Coordinating the implementation of Federal efforts to protect reproductive rights and access to health care.

Details are provided in the full statement, which can be read here.

Watch the video above, via CNN.

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