President Joe Biden is considering executive orders to protect abortion access as Democrats have moved to pass laws in recent weeks with the future of Roe v. Wade in jeopardy.
"We have to make sure we pass legislation making [abortion] a law," Biden said during a Wednesday appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! If the Supreme Court overturns Roe this month, abortion will become illegal in 20 states, which the president said will "cause a mini revolution" of state-level legislation by Democrats. "I don’t think the country will stand for it," Biden added.
"President Biden's desire to issue an executive order to keep abortion legal in those states directly contradicts the Court's ruling and the will of the people in those states," Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, told the Washington Free Beacon.
Michigan abortion advocates are campaigning to gather signatures by mid-July to put a constitutional amendment codifying abortion on the November ballot. California Democrats introduced a similar plan on Wednesday to place a constitutional amendment on the 2022 ballot protecting abortion. Democratic governor Tony Evers in Wisconsin—a state where abortion would become illegal—asked legislators this week to scuttle the state’s abortion ban before Roe is overturned.
The efforts follow the leaked draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, which revealed the Court plans to rule against the 1973 landmark abortion case.