US President Joe Biden has said he believes the right to choose to have an abortion is “fundamental” in the wake of a leaked Supreme Court draft decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade.
“I believe that a woman’s right to choose is fundamental, Roe has been the law of the land for almost fifty years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned,” Biden said in a statement.
On Tuesday, a leaked Supreme Court document was published by Politico, suggesting the court would soon vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark ruling that legalised abortion nationwide in the United States.
While the document was an initial draft opinion, the Supreme Court is expected to finalise its decision by June.
After the document leak, Biden told the media that if the Supreme Court decision is formalised, “it would mean that every other decision related to the notion of privacy is thrown into question”.
“If it becomes the 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, and into other basic rights,” Biden said.
“The right to marriage, the right to determine a whole range of things. A number of the members of the court have not acknowledged that there is a right to privacy in our Constitution. I strongly believe there is.”
Protestors gathered outside the Supreme Court in the hours after the draft court decision was leaked. They were joined by Senator Elizabeth Warren, who appeared visibly angry in a video captured by a reporter.
“I am angry,” Warren said, stopping to speak to the reporter. “I am angry and upset and determined. The United States congress can keep Roe v. Wade, the law of the land, they just need to do it.”
“The Republicans have been working towards this day for decades. They have been out there plotting, carefully cultivating the Supreme Court justices so they could have a majority on the bench who would accomplish something that the majority of Americans do not want.
“Sixty-nine per cent of people across this country, red states and blue states, old people and young people, want Roe v. Wade to maintain the law of the land. We need to do that and we have a right.
“We’ve heard enough from the extremists, and we’re tired of it.”
Former President Barack Obama released a joint statement with Michelle Obama, saying if Roe v. Wade is overturned, one of the most intensely personal decisions someone can make will be relegated to “the whims of politicians and ideologues”.
“The consequences of this decision would be a blow not just to women, but to all of us who believe that in a free society, there are limits to how much the government can encroach on our personal lives,” they said.
Hillary Clinton said the decision is a “direct assault on the dignity, rights and lives of women, not to mention decades of settled law”.
“It will kill and subjugate women even as a vast majority of Americans think abortion should be legal. What an utter disgrace,” Clinton wrote on Twitter.
“Women’s rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights. An extreme wing of the Supreme Court may seek to deny that fundamental truth. They may try to force their views on a country where 70% of people want Roe upheld. We will not be quiet and we will not go back.”