President Joe Biden told Jimmy Kimmel on Wednesday night that he would consider issuing executive orders on abortion should the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade. He also predicted the decision would cause Republicans to be voted out of office in November.
“It’s clear that if, in fact, the decision comes down the way it does, and these states impose the limitations they’re talking about, it’s going to cause a mini revolution, and they’re going to vote a lot of these folks out of office,” Biden said.
Earlier this week, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Patty Murray, along with over 20 other Democratic senators, sent a letter to Biden requesting executive action on abortion.
“Americans across the nation and at every level of government must stand up against this unprecedented assault on women and their right to make decisions about their own bodies and lives,” the letter says. “But as President of the United States, you have the unique power to marshal the resources of the entire federal government to respond.”
The letter’s six core recommendations include “increasing access to medication abortion, providing resources for individuals seeking abortion care in other states,” “establishing a reproductive health ombudsman at the Department of Health and Humans Services,” “enforcing ‘Free Choice of Provider’ requirements,” “clarifying protections for sensitive health and location data,” and “using federal property and resources to increase access to abortion.”
Along with the recommendations, the letter urges Biden to “issue an executive order instructing the leaders of every federal agency to submit their plans to protect the right to an abortion within 30 days.”
The letter came just weeks after the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would have nationally codified an abortion right, failed to gain even a simple majority in the Senate.
“This is yet another ploy by the left-wing senators to impose radical abortion policies on Americans by fiat because their proposals lose at the ballot box,” Roger Severino, the vice president of domestic policy at the Heritage Foundation, told the Washington Examiner.
He called the letter’s proposals a “gross abuse of federal executive power.”
“They seek to flood the nation with dangerous abortion drugs, fund abortion tourism across state lines, force states to use taxpayer money to support abortion providers, and would allow abortion clinics to set up shop in federal buildings,” Severino said. “These proposals are a gross abuse of federal executive power and would circumvent the constitutional ability of states to protect women and unborn children from the dangers of abortion.”
Democrats can’t win any other way on the issue. While they point to polls showing the public doesn’t want to see Roe overturned, those polls fail to capture true public opinion. Most people believe there should be some restrictions on abortion in the second and third trimesters. Yet many have absolutely no idea that overturning Roe would only return the issue to the states, not ban abortion entirely. California could continue its radical pursuit of becoming an abortion sanctuary state, and Oklahoma could proceed to implement its abortion ban.
But placing the decision in the hands of state governments closer to the people is unacceptable to the proponents of child sacrifice. They want it protected and guaranteed by federal law.
Despite the continued insistence of Democrats, there is no constitutional right to an abortion, as Justice Samuel Alito’s leaked majority opinion carefully delineated. Instead of letting the court course-correct and states restore justice denied to millions of unborn children killed since 1973, Democrats want to step in with government regulations that violate the established constitutional order.
Katelynn Richardson is a Summer 2022 Washington Examiner fellow.
