Monday, June 24, 2024, marks the two-year anniversary since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and the two probable presidential candidates offered somewhat different messages on abortion rights.
On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court formally released a ruling that overturns the nearly 50-year-old decision of Roe v. Wade that protected a pregnant woman’s right to choose to have an abortion.
The decision overturned the 1973 ruling on Roe, which protected women who seek an abortion “without undue restrictive interference from the government,” guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment. Planned Parenthood v. Casey from 1992, which mostly protected those same rights, is also repealed under the new ruling.
Since the reversal, President Joe Biden has continued to criticize former President Donald Trump over his support for the decision.
In a statement shared with Newsweek on Monday, Biden said: “Two years ago today, Donald Trump’s Supreme Court majority ripped away the fundamental freedom for women to access the health care they need and deserve.
“The consequences have been devastating: in states across the country, Trump’s allies have enacted extreme and dangerous abortion bans—many with no exception for rape or incest—that are putting women’s lives at risk and threatening doctors with jail time.
“Donald Trump is the sole person responsible for this nightmare … If given the chance, there is no question he will ban abortion nationwide, with or without the help of Congress. You don’t have to take my word for it—his advisers have already laid out the plans to do it.”
Biden’s statement also noted that he and Vice President Kamala Harris are continuing to fight for abortion rights across the country and added: “We won’t stop until we restore the protections of Roe v. Wade for every woman in every state.”
On the other hand, Trump recently delivered a speech at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference in Washington, D.C. just two days ahead of Monday’s anniversary, and mentioned the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
During his speech, Trump thanked Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett for “the wisdom and the courage they showed on this long-term, very contentious issue. This has been a long time it’s been fought.”
“We did something that was amazing,” Trump said. “The big problem was it was caught up in the federal government, but the people will decide, and that’s the way it should be. The people are now deciding. Some states are a little bit more conservative, and some states are much more liberal.”
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s spokesperson via email for comment.
Abortion rights are expected to be a major talking point ahead of the 2024 election, which is shaping up to be a rematch of the 2020 race between Biden and Trump. The two are due to appear for a presidential debate on Thursday, where they will likely be questioned on abortion rights and the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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