'SAD DAY FOR AMERICA'
Joe Biden gives chilling warning over Roe v Wade decision and says ‘women’s lives are at risk’
PRESIDENT Joe Biden has called for peaceful protests following the groundbreaking decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, proclaiming that "woman's lives are at risk."
Biden addressed the nation Friday afternoon following the 's 5-4 decision to end nearly 50 years of constitutional protections for abortion.
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The president called the court's determination " a tragic error and cruel," saying it's sent America back "150 years."
"Today is a very solemn moment for the United States. The Supreme Court expressly took away a Constitutional right from the American people that it had already recognized," said.
"They simply took it away. That's never been done to a right that is so important to so many Americans.
"It's a sad day for the court and the country. Women have the power to control their destiny. With Roe gone, let's be very clear, the health and life of women in this nation are now at risk."
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He continued: "The court literally taking America back 150 years. This is a sad day for the country, but it doesn't mean the fight is over.
"Let me be very clear and unambiguous, the only way we can secure a women's right to choose is for Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade as federal law.
"If Congress, as it appears, lacks the votes to do that now, voters need to make their voices heard."
The president called for peaceful protests after the court's shocking decision, saying: "I call on everyone, no matter how deeply they care about this decision, to keep all protests peaceful.
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"No intimidation. Violence is never acceptable."
Meanwhile, House Speaker held back tears as she branded the court's decision a "slap in the face to women."
“There’s no point in saying good morning because it certainly is not one,” Pelosi said shortly after the ruling was announced.
"What this means to women is such an insult. It's a slap to women about using their own judgment to make their own decisions about their reproductive freedom.
"I always have said that the termination of a pregnancy is just their opening act, it's just their front game. Behind it, and for years, I have seen in this Congress opposition to any family planning, domestic or global, when we have had those discussions or debates and those votes on the floor of the House."
'GOP DARK AND EXTREME GOAL'
She continued: "This is deadly serious, but we're not going to let this pass. A woman's right to choose, reproductive freedom, is on the ballot in November."
Pelosi took stiff swipes at former President and Minority Leader , saying the "achieved the GOP's dark and extreme goal".
"What is happening here, a woman's fundamental health decisions are her own top make in consultation with her doctor, her faith, her family, not some right-wing politicians Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell packed the court with.
"The Republican-controlled Supreme Court has achieved the GOP's dark and extreme goal of ripping away women's right to make their own reproductive health decisions.
"Because of Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, the Republican Party and their supermajority on the Supreme Court, American women today have less freedom than their mother," the House Speaker fumed.
ROE V. WADE OVERTURNED
The 5-4 decision will leave the issues of abortion up to state legislators, which will ultimately result in a total ban on the procedure in about half of the states.
Associate Justice Samuel Alito was joined in his opinion by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.
In Friday's ruling, Alito called Roe "egregiously wrong from the start".
He said the Constitution "does not confer a right to abortion," declaring that the decision should ultimately be left to the state to regulate.
"Abortion presents a profound moral question The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion.
"Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. The Court overrules those decisions and returns that authority to the people and their elected representatives."
The states that may implement total or near-total abortion restrictions include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
In a concurring opinion, Justice Thomas wrote that the Supreme Court should "reconsider the rulings that protect contraception, same-sex relationships, and same-sex marriage."
"In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court's substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.
"Because any substantive due process decision is 'demonstrably erroneous,' we have a duty to 'correct the error' established in those precedents," he wrote.
Democrat-appointed Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented.
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“With sorrow—for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection—we dissent,” they wrote.
At the same time, the court voted 6-3 to uphold a Mississippi law that bans all abortion past 15 weeks, with very few medical exceptions.
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