Biden vows abortion legislation as top priority next year

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden promised Tuesday that the first bill he sends to Capitol Hill next year will be one that codifies Roe v Wade — if Democrats control enough seats in Congress for Biden to sign abortion protections into law.

In a speech designed to energise his party's voters just three weeks ahead of the November midterms, he said: “If you care about the right to choose, then you gotta vote.”

He urged those in attendance at the Howard Theatre in Washington to recall how they felt when the Supreme Court in late June overturned the landmark 1973 ruling legalising abortion, and repeatedly lambasted Republicans nationwide who have pushed for restrictions on the procedure, often without exceptions.

Biden said “the only sure way to stop these extremist laws that are putting in jeopardy women's health and rights is for Congress to pass a law.” He acknowledged that right now, “we're short a handful of votes” to reinstate abortion protections at the federal level, urging 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. “And when Congress passes it, I'll sign it in January, 50 years after Roe was first decided the law of the land.”

That's a big if.

Republicans are widely projected to gain control of at least the House. Abortion rights have been a key motivating factor for Democrats this year, although the economy and inflation still rank as chief concern for most voters.

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 — Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin— 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.

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