Biden to promise abortion rights bill if Democrats keep control of Congress

Biden delivers remarks about the student loan forgiveness program from an auditorium on the White House campus in Washington, U.S., October 17, 2022. REUTERS/Leah Millis

WASHINGTON – U.S. President Joe Biden, under renewed pressure over high inflation with mid-term elections approaching, will say on Tuesday he plans to send a bill to Congress to guarantee abortion rights if Democrats control the legislature next year.

Biden’s Democrats could lose control of the House of Representatives, and possibly the Senate too, in the November elections.

He is trying to rally the party and its supporters around abortion rights, which were sharply curtailed by the Supreme Court’s decision nearly four months ago to overturn the landmark Roe v Wade ruling.

“He will say that if the American people elect more Democratic Senators in November and keep the House Democratic, the first bill he will send to the next Congress will be to codify Roe — and he will sign it around the 50th anniversary of the Roe decision,” a Democratic official said.

Democrats currently have a slim majority in the House and control the 50-50 Senate through Vice President Kamala Harris’ ability to cast tie-breaking votes.

Biden is slated to give remarks at the historic Howard Theatre in Washington on Tuesday.

While abortion has played a critical role in Democrats’ midterm messaging, Reuters/Ipsos polling shows that Americans are more worried about inflation.

Nationwide, just 8% of Americans cited the end of national abortion rights as the issue that will most influence how they vote in November, compared with 27% who cited inflation in a poll conducted Sept. 27-Oct. 3.

Some 20% of Democratic women cite the end of national abortion rights as their top issue for the midterms, compared with 22% who cite inflation. Outside that group, abortion is a lower priority.

Some 9% of Democratic men cited abortion as their top issue, compared with 19% who cite inflation.

Biden and top White House officials this month announced new guidelines and grants to protect abortion and contraception rights. He has said he would not “sit by and let Republicans throughout the country enact extreme policies.”

Abortion bans have gone into effect in more than a dozen states since the Supreme Court’s ruling on June 24.