President Joe Biden’s recent pledge to pass and sign a national abortion rights law next year if Democrats hold Congress may look like (and to some extent undoubtedly is) a desperate attempt to turn the tide before the Nov. 8 midterms. Still, for all its lousy timing and ham-handed presentation, it’s a legitimate and necessary move. With most Republicans suddenly being coy about their plans to further restrict reproductive rights going forward, Biden’s announcement aptly lays out exactly what’s at stake in the election.
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority suggested in this year’s Roe v. Wade ruling that it was finally settling the contentious issue of abortion rights by turning it back to the states. Yet the effect on the already raging culture wars was more like opening a new front. A dozen states, including Missouri, immediately imposed near-total abortion bans, with others poised to follow. But the victorious anti-choice movement has made clear it’s not stopping there.
Emboldened by the decision, legislators in red states around the country are exploring ways to further erode reproductive rights, such as outlawing certain forms of birth control and even restricting women’s freedom of movement to prevent them from obtaining abortions outside their own states. Even more ominously, some congressional Republicans are suggesting a nationwide ban on the procedure. So much for turning it back to the states.
Even as these discussions are going on, though, most Republicans are simply staying silent on the issue — for now — which seems a strange reaction after having won such a huge victory. It’s obvious that even they understand they are at odds with majority sentiment in America, which favors abortion rights with reasonable restrictions. To believe their silence will continue after they are safely reelected would be the most dangerous leap of faith.
By announcing that he would lead the charge to codify the rights of Roe in national legislation, Biden correctly takes the fight to Republicans, illuminating the fact that whatever the GOP says or doesn’t say now, it remains radically out of step on this topic — and that its agenda is a clear and present danger to women across America.
Recognizing that fact doesn’t require giving Biden a pass for his uneven handling of this issue so far. Had he more forcefully pushed fellow Democrats in the Senate to end the filibuster this year, he might have been able to pass national abortion rights protections already.
And why is this all-in strategy coming only now, just before the midterms, instead of immediately after the court’s disastrous opinion? There’s no way around the lousy optics of that. Still, if Biden’s gambit merely reminds distracted voters that this election really is a choice between eroding or protecting the most personal of rights for half the country, it will have served a valuable purpose.
