US President Joe Biden and his vice-president, Kamala Harris, promised on Saturday to use all means at their disposal to defend the right to abortion, the future of which depends on a Supreme Court decision.
“The constitutional law established in Roe v. Wade” in 1973 “is under attack like never before,” they said in a statement on the 49and anniversary of this historic judgment.
“It is a right that we believe should be enshrined in law, and we are committed to defending it with all the tools at our disposal,” they added.
Without using the term abortion in their statement, which has not failed to be noted by some pro-abortion activists, the president and his vice-president were alarmed at attempts to “restrict access to sexual health care and reproductive health,” including in Texas, Mississippi, and other states.
The right to abortion in the United States — which is not guaranteed by federal law — is based on the Supreme Court’s decision “Roe v. Wade”. The high court held that the Constitution guaranteed the right of women to have an abortion. In 1992, it confirmed this right as long as the fetus is not viable, around 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy.
But on the strength of the change in the balance in the Supreme Court, now dominated by conservative judges, several states such as Texas have launched the offensive, adopting restrictive laws, some of which contradict case law, in order to provide the high court with an opportunity to come back to the subject.
On Friday, thousands of Americans opposed to abortion gathered in Washington in an optimistic mood, convinced that the Supreme Court will soon reverse “Roe v. Wade”.