Biden: White House ready to respond if high court strikes down Roe v. Wade

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Tuesday vowed the White House “will be ready” to respond should the conservative-leaning Supreme Court overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision as previewed in a recently leaked draft of a court opinion.

Biden, responding to news of the draft hours after its publication by the news outlet Politico, said his administration has been preparing “options” for an executive response should the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion be struck down. He also pressed Congress to codify the nearly 50-year-old ruling and enshrine into U.S. law what he described as a “fundamental” right for women.

“If the Court does overturn Roe, it will fall on our nation’s elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman’s right to choose,” Biden said in a statement.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts confirmed the authenticity of the draft on Tuesday, but said in a statement that it “does not represent” any final decision or final position from the court’s nine justices. Conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote the opinion, but fellow conservatives on the bench Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett have reportedly sided with Alito, according to POLITICO.

Biden, previewing what will likely be a major rallying point for Democrats before the midterm elections, said “it will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November.”

“At the federal level, we will need more pro-choice Senators and a pro-choice majority in the House to adopt legislation that codifies Roe, which I will work to pass and sign into law,” Biden said.

The president, speaking to reporters before a previously scheduled trip to a defense production factory in Alabama, said if Roe v. Wade is struck down, it would be a “radical decision” that would throw into question “a whole range of rights.”

“If it becomes a law and if what is written is what remains, it goes far beyond the concern of whether or not there is the right to choose,” Biden said. “It goes to other basic rights — the right to marry, the right to determine a whole range of things.”

Biden, noting that the draft was not a final decision, said he hoped “there are not enough votes” on the high court to overturn the decades-old ruling. Conservatives currently hold a 6-3 edge over the court’s liberals.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki, when asked for details about the executive response Biden is weighing, said officials are looking at how to address the potential lack of “reproductive health care services” in more than two dozen states that have previously indicated they will restrict or ban abortions if Roe v. Wade is invalidated.

Vice President Kamala Harris said if the draft ultimately becomes the final ruling, it would threaten “the fundamental right to privacy” of all Americans.

“The rights of all Americans are at risk,” Harris said in a statement. “If the right to privacy is weakened, every person could face a future in which the government can potentially interfere in the personal decisions you make about your life.”

By Laura Figueroa Hernandez

laura.figueroa@newsday.com@Laura_Figueroa

Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.