Biden slams SC for taking US to 'dangerous path'; vows to protect women's abortion rights

US President Joe Biden declared that the fight to preserve abortion rights for women in America "is not over" after the US Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade verdict on June 24. Speaking at a regular press briefing, Biden described the overruling of Roe v. Wade as the "culmination of a deliberate effort over decades to upset the balance of our law." He lashed out at the SC's decision, saying the apex judicial body was taking the US to an "extreme and dangerous path". 

"It’s a realization of an extreme ideology and a tragic error by the Supreme Court," Biden said. 

Biden stressed that the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade put the lives and health of women across America at risk even though most states in this country still recognise a woman's right to choose. He added, that the court "expressly" stripped off a constitutional right of the American people that is already recognised.

'Fight not over': Biden

Biden, in his speech, underlined the grave injustices that women have to face under criminalisation of abortion. He added the decision will also have immediate consequences like states banning abortion without significant exception, thus, putting in jeopardy the lives of millions. Even doctors would be criminalised for fulfilling their duty to care, Biden said, adding that the poor women will be the "hardest hit" of the "cruel" judgement. "The court laid out state laws criminalising abortion that go back to the 1800s as rationale — the court literally taking America back 150 years," he reckoned.

"This is a sad day for my country, in my view but it doesn't mean the fight is over," Biden declared in an unambiguous message.

In order to remedy the situation, Biden advised American citizens that voting in favour of representatives who codify women's rights is the only optimal solution. This is the "only way we can secure a woman’s right and the balance that exists" and "for Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade as federal law," he added. With this, he also flagged one significant agenda for the fall elections. "Roe is on the ballot...this right to privacy, liberty, equality, they are all on the ballot...as the Court casts a shadow on large swaths of land," he said, expressing his forceful defence against the SC's life-altering hearing.

Roe v. Wade

The US SC on June 24 overturned the historic 1973 Roe v. Wade judgement that legalised abortion as a constitutional right by a 6-3 majority. This undoing will invoke a near-total ban on abortion without exceptions for health, rape, or incest, in more than half of the states in America. 'Roe' had ruled abortion legal in several states up to the point of foetal viability- the time after which a foetus can survive outside the womb. On June 24, the country overruled the judgement, saying that the central tenet of the law was "egregiously wrong."

The ruling signals a dangerous backsliding of hard-won freedoms and the right to life for innocents who suffered a violent act of rape or forced incest. Democrat leaders and women's rights activists have denounced the "trigger" law which could lead to "damaging consequences." Meanwhile, Republicans and Conservatives celebrated the culmination of their decades-long campaign to undo what they call "an illegitimate" ruling against innocent lives.

(Image: AP)