May 4, 2024
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is promising that the first bill he sends to Capitol Hill next year will be one that codifies Roe v. Wade if Democrats win enough seats in Congress next month to get it passed.
Biden's promise, made in a speech designed to energize his party's voters three weeks ahead of the November 8 midterms, underscores the importance House and Senate races in battleground states, including Georgia.
"This should be a wake-up call to all those who care about life," said Georgia Baptist Convention President Kevin Williams in response to Biden's latest promise. "I encourage everyone to get out and vote in November for those who want to protect life, not destory it."
Biden has repeatedly lambasted pro-life politicans nationwide who have pushed for restrictions on the procedure and called for voters "to send more Democrats to Congress."
“If we do that, here’s the promise I make to you and the American people: The first bill that I will send to the Congress will be to codify Roe v. Wade," Biden said.
That's a big if.
Republicans are widely projected to gain control of at least the House and have a shot at winning a major in the Senate. Democrats have made abortion rights a major issue leading up to the midterm elections.
"We must be reminded that elections do have consequences," said Mike Griffin, public affairs representative for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. "This upcoming election is important."
For the White House, it won’t be enough just to keep control of both chambers of Congress, already an uphill battle, to be able to enshrine the protections of Roe into law. The Senate would need to abolish the filibuster, the legislative rule that requires 60 votes for most bills to advance in the chamber, in order to pass an abortion measure with a simple majority of senators.
Long resistant to any revisions to Senate institutional rules, Biden said in the days after the decision by the Supreme Court to overrule Roe in Dobbs v. Jackson that he would support eliminating that supermajority threshold for abortion bills, just as he did on voting rights legislation.
But two moderate Democrats — Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, Ariz., and Joe Manchin, W.Va. — support keeping the filibuster. Sinema has said she wants to retain the filibuster precisely so any abortion restrictions backed by Republicans would face a much higher hurdle to pass in the Senate.
Democratic Senate candidates in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — the party's two best chances to flip seats currently held by Republicans — have both said they support eliminating the filibuster in order to pass abortion legislation. Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman has actively campaigned on being the 51st vote for priorities such as legalizing abortion, codifying same-sex marriage protections, and making it easier for workers to unionize — all measures that would otherwise be blocked by a filibuster in the Senate.
Court decisions and state legislation have shifted — and sometimes, re-shifted — the status of abortion laws across the country. Currently, bans are in place at all stages of pregnancy in 12 states. In another, Wisconsin, clinics have stopped providing abortions though there’s dispute over whether a ban is in effect. In Georgia, abortion is banned at the detection of cardiac activity -- generally around six weeks and before women often know they’re pregnant.
