White House marks ‘Women’s Equality Day’ by calling for Congress to codify Roe v. Wade

On Friday, President Joe Biden along White House staffers commemorated Women’s Equality Day by liaising with state and local leaders to talk about methods of safeguarding access to abortions, in the midst of legal battles across the country for abortion “trigger laws” to be enacted.

Biden, along with his Gender Policy Council co-head Jen Klein, and intergovernmental affairs director Julie Rodriguez, held a meeting at the White House with elected officials from Kansas, New York, Maryland, North Carolina and Delaware, as well as a Texan judge.

“The court got Roe right for nearly 50 years,” Biden said, referring to the Roe v. Wade decision that was overturned by the Supreme Court in June. “Congress in my view should codify Roe once and for all, but right now we are short a handful of votes… The only way that is gonna happen is if the American people make it happen in November.”

Biden addressed recent issues and appealed to those present about the importance of November’s midterms.

“I think you speak for women all over America. I think you speak for beyond women. I think you speak for the majority of the American people,” Biden said in response to Judge Hidalgo who condemned states for banning abortion pills.

He continued, “This is — the idea that there are no exceptions made as well is just not something that — you see what the — what the votes — who knows what happens in November, but you see what some of the votes that have occurred, that have taken place in the last — the last couple months here in the United States in various localities. The American people — I think this is above and beyond where everybody thought they’d — we’d go.”

Officials confirmed that The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) will release a report which will announce measures such as increasing the privacy of patients and tackling medicated abortion.

Officials went on to say that the HHS will write to all state governors and request that healthcare providers provide abortion services if the life of a mother is at risk and that these procedures must be protected under federal law.

The Pew Research Center conducted a poll this week, which showed abortion increasing as a priority for Democratic voters, spiking from 46 percent in March to 71 percent at the end of August.