United States President Joe Biden acknowledged on Tuesday that he was "not prepared" to let go of the issue of privacy to "the whims" of the public in certain "local areas" and issued a warning after a Supreme Court draft opinion suggests the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The Democrat said that the draft opinion was a "radical decision" that would put "a whole range of rights" of Americans at risk. Biden said that if Roe v. Wade were overturned, decisions regarding the legal status of abortion would be given to individual states.
Roe v. Wade Leaked Opinion
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was the one who wrote the draft opinion, which was considered to be an unprecedented and stunning leak from the high court. The decision would take down the foundation of Roe, which argues that abortion must be made legal in all states across the nation.
Roe v. Wade argues that it is a basic right to privacy that can also be found in the United States Constitution. However, many conservative jurists argue that such a general right does not even exist, as per Fox News.
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In his first public comments regarding the leaked Supreme Court opinion, the U.S. president said it would be a fundamental shift in American jurisprudence. The Democrat said that the arguments used in the draft opinion were used to strike down the right of gays and lesbians to marry who they want as well as constitutional protections for birth control.
Biden said that every other decision based on the notion of privacy was thrown into question. He added that Roe v. Wade decided that the moment of conception is an open question when talking about life, noting that any decision that aims to make a judgment on that question was going overboard.
Basic Right to Privacy
According to USA Today, in a previous statement, the U.S. president called on Congress to codify abortion rights and urged voters to elect lawmakers who would support those rights. However, Biden declined to say whether or not he would support the idea of changing Senate rules so a filibuster could not block legislation codifying the right to abortion.
President Biden warned that if the draft opinion becomes law, it will go far beyond the concern of whether or not there is the right to choose and go into other basic rights. He noted it would jeopardize the right to marriage and other things. The Democrat added that a number of members of the court have not acknowledged that there was a right to privacy in the Constitution.
The leaked draft suggests that a majority of the Supreme Court has voted in favor of overturning the nearly five-decade-old Roe v. Wade ruling. Biden said that there was no way to determine whether or not the draft was genuine or if it would reflect the court's final decision. But hours after that remark, Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed the authenticity of the draft and announced he had ordered an investigation into the leak, CNBC reported.
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