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The right to abortion has become a major issue in the 2024 elections.
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President Joe Biden has repeatedly promised to enshrine Roe into law.
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Former President Donald Trump says he wants to leave the issue to each state.
The Supreme Court’s historic reversal of Roe v. Wade created an outpouring of emotion that rocked the 2022 midterm elections. Two years later, abortion rights remain a major issue in the 2024 elections.
Polls at both the state and national levels show that abortion is probably President Joe Biden’s top issue. But alone it is unlikely that this will be enough to save him.
Just look at Arizona: Advocates there hope to put a measure before voters in November that would guarantee the right to abortion until the viability of the fetus, about 22 to 25 weeks of pregnancy. A recent CBS News-YouGov poll found that 65% of Arizonans would vote in favor of such a ballot measure. In the same survey, Biden still trailed former President Donald Trump in the state among likely voters, 47% to 52%.
There is also confusion on the issue that could dampen Biden’s advantage.
Nearly one in five voters (17%) in six key swing states incorrectly said Biden is responsible for the end of abortion rights nationwide, according to New York Times/Siena College polling. The Supreme Court was only able to overturn Roe thanks to the three judges appointed by Trump. On multiple occasions, Trump has emphatically bragged that he killed Roe.
Here’s a guide to Biden and Trump’s stance on this issue.
Where Joe Biden stands on abortion rights
Biden has repeatedly promised that he would reinstate Roe. It is not an easy undertaking. Biden would need the Democrats to hold another trifecta, which would require him to win re-election, the Democrats to keep the Senate and retake the House of Representatives. Political pundits are currently in favor of the Republican Party retaking the chamber, as some of the most closely watched races are in states Trump won in 2020.
Even controlling Congress would probably not be enough. The Senate filibuster requires a de facto majority of 60 votes for legislation that would enshrine into law nationwide protections for abortion rights. It’s hard to imagine how Democrats could pick up nine more seats they would need for a filibuster-proof majority. Democrats could change the filibuster or end it entirely, but such efforts have failed in the past. Ending the filibuster would also open the door to Republicans passing a nationwide abortion ban in the future.
Some legal experts have also questioned whether Congress has the power to guarantee access to abortion. It is almost certain that anti-abortion rights groups would take legal action if Democrats were able to pass such a law.
There are other ways Biden could influence abortion access if he remains in power. The Biden administration has defended access to the abortion drug mifepristone all the way to the Supreme Court. Under Biden’s leadership, the Pentagon is pursuing a policy to reimburse service members who travel for an abortion if they cannot get the procedure in the area where they are stationed.
A Biden White House would also likely challenge Republican-led states that seek to further restrict abortion rights. Biden and the Justice Department, for example, have vowed to defend women’s ability to travel between states if they want to have an abortion.
Where Donald Trump stands on abortion rights
While there is little doubt that Trump has done more to restrict access to abortion in the US than any other president, he has recently tried to avoid the subject entirely, saying the issue should be left up to individual states .
“The states will decide by vote or legislation or maybe both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land,” Trump said in a recent video. “In this case, state law.”
The former president made no mention of the role of state Supreme Courts, an issue that came to a head just days after Trump’s abortion announcement when the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that a near-total 1864 ban on abortions was enforceable used to be. Trump and many Republicans said Arizona went too far amid the uproar after the ruling. (Ultimately, Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, signed a repeal of the territorial-era ban.)
Trump has been less clear about what else he believes on the subject. He has repeatedly promised to explain his views on mifepristone, but has not done so. He has not said how, as a Florida resident, he will vote on a proposed constitutional amendment that would guarantee access to abortion for the viability of the fetus or “if necessary to protect the health of the patient, as determined by the patient’s health care provider .”
Trump’s allies want to go even further. Project 2025, an unofficial partnership of right-wing think tanks, has outlined an ambitious set of plans to restrict abortion rights if Trump wins in November. Although Trump’s campaign has distanced itself from the group, many of the plans’ authors held key positions in his administration. The plan calls for a future Republican president to take action to reverse the FDA’s approval of mifepristone and limit “mail-order abortions.”
Read the original article on Business Insider
