Vice President Kamala Harris visits Fire Station No. 2 in Santa Monica, Calif., on Saturday, July 4, 2022. Damian Dovarganes/AP
-
Vice President Kamala Harris told CBS that Democrats didn’t codify Roe v. Wade because it was “just settled.”
-
President Biden signs executive order to strengthen abortion rights.
-
After the Supreme Court ruling expired, the White House scrambled to protect abortion rights.
Vice President Kamala Harris defended Democrats for not codifying Roe v. Wade when they had the chance over the past few decades.
In an interview with CBS News’ Robert Costa on Friday, Harris said Democrats believe Roe is “just settled.”
“When you look back, did the Democrats, the previous Democratic presidents, the leaders of Congress, fail to codify Roe v. Wade over the last five decades?” Costa asked.
“I think, to be very honest with you, I do believe that we should have been right to believe, but we certainly believed that some issues were just settled,” Harris said. “Some issues are just settled.”
Costa said that was “obviously” not the case after Rowe’s reversal.
“No, it is. And that’s why I believe we’re living, unfortunately, in really troubled times,” Harris said.
This comes after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which struck down the federal right to abortion. A draft of the decision expired in early May, leaving the White House and Democrats scrambling to secure pathways to protect abortion rights.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing the Department of Health and Human Services to protect access to abortion care, including medical abortion and access to contraception, Insider previously reported.
After the Supreme Court’s decision, abortion rights advocates called on President Joe Biden to initiate sweeping changes, such as expanding the Supreme Court and establishing abortion clinics on federal land. Biden said his “administration will use all of its appropriate legal authority” to help Americans maintain access to abortions, but he insisted that the power to codify the law rests with Congress, not him.
“The only way we can ensure women’s suffrage, the balance that existed, is for Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade as federal law,” Biden said. “No amount of executive action by the president can do that.
Read the original article on Business Insider
Add Comment