In what was billed as a major address yesterday by the White House, President Joe Biden declared that, if the Democrats prevail in the midterm elections, “here’s the promise I make to you and the American people: The first bill I will send to the Congress will be to codify Roe v. Wade. And when Congress passes it, I’ll sign it in January, 50 years after Roe was first decided the law of the land.” As previously discussed, the bill being referenced by the President and Democrats is not a codification of Roe v. Wade, but rather a significant expansion of the precedent. Biden also returned to his claim that the right can be based entirely on the Ninth Amendment.
The Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) is routinely described in the media as a “codification of Roe,” repeating the false claim by the White House and many Democratic sponsors. It is in fact what many pro-choice advocates have always wanted Roe to be but have been unsuccessful in establishing through the court system.
The Democrats could have simply sought the codification of Roe but instead loaded the WHPA with a wishlist of pro-choice provisions. The WHPA would dramatically expand Roe and its successor case, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. It seeks to accomplish legislatively what could not be accomplished judicially for decades.
The bill declares the “violent legacy” of “restrictions on reproductive health, including abortion … [that] perpetuate systems of oppression, lack of bodily autonomy, white supremacy, and anti-Black racism.”
It would wipe away the precedent following Roe where states did impose legislative conditions and limitations on abortions within the constitutional framework laid out by the Court. Since 1973, states have used that precedent to enact hundreds of laws on abortion.
There are legitimate objections to some of these laws. However, if the President and Congress are going to preempt state laws, they should be honest with voters that this is an expansion (rather than a codification) of the status quo of Roe.
The precedent under Roe and its successor cases bar states from imposing an undue burden on the right to an abortion, or laws that have “the purpose or effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus.” That can be stated in a couple lines. But the WHPA would superficially track constitutional language while adopting other undefined or sweeping terms.
It bars any limitation or requirement that “expressly, effectively, implicitly, or as implemented singles out” and “impedes access to” abortion. Any state law would need to show — by clear and convincing evidence — that it “significantly advances the safety of abortion services or the health of patients,” and that such safety “cannot be advanced by a less restrictive alternative measure.”
Conversely, a law can “impede” abortion rights under seven broad standards — including any conditions that are “reasonably likely to directly or indirectly increase the cost of providing … or obtaining abortion services (including costs associated with travel, childcare, or time off work),” that “deters some patients.” It also impedes the right if it causes “a trip to the offices of a health care provider that would not otherwise be required.”
Under the WHPA, no law could countermand a health-care provider who believes “continuation of the pregnancy would pose a risk to the pregnant patient’s life or health.” The term “health” is not defined and such terms are required to be “liberally construed” under the law. The law could be read as preempting certain late term abortion laws and other limits.
The WHPA could make it more difficult to establish waiting periods under current state laws. Laws requiring the involvement of licensed physicians could be struck down, too, since the key “health care provider” definition includes a “certified nurse-midwife, nurse practitioner, and physician assistant.”
Again, these are important issues that are worthy of debate. Indeed, they are the types of definitions, procedures and standards that have resulted in different approaches among the states under the current post-Roe precedent — laws that could be preempted under the WHPA.
President Biden also returned to the claim that the Constitution’s Ninth Amendment contains a “right to privacy.” He explained, “There’s a thing called the Ninth Amendment that says there’s a right to privacy. That’s how it was interpreted back then.”
The Court has expressly rejected this rationale and any law based on this claim would likely face the same result before the current Court.
The Ninth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states “the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
Biden previously made the same claim during a NATO press conference on June 30. He added:
“I have written, way back, a number of law review articles about the Ninth Amendment and the – and the Fourteenth Amendment and why that privacy is considered as part of a constitutional guarantee.”
Even the Washington Post declared that claim to be false. It awarded two “Pinocchios” though it is not clear what it takes to get more “Pinocchios” in this circumstance.
Nevertheless, the Post tried to be as gentle as possible, noting that “as we’ve already documented, the president tends to embellish the factual record of his past at times.” This includes his claim of being arrested during civil rights protests and also that he was arrested in his effort to see Nelson Mandela.
On this occasion, the Post found no such law review articles written by Biden, as repeatedly claimed in public.
As for the Ninth Amendment, it was meant by James Madison as a way to assure anti-Federalists and others that, by listing certain rights, the Bill of Rights was not confining rights to those listed.
However, the Court has rejected the type of argument repeatedly eluded to by the President. Such rights must be established as deeply rooted in our history. In the recent Dodd decision, the Court expressly rejected abortion as one of those rights.
Believe it or not democrats are holding back before the election.
After, more insane than ever.
Expect zero respect by lame duck leftists.
A cynical person might say that the push to “codify” Roe is just further proof of the racism of the democrats. After all, it is mainly black babies that are being snuffed out and if we lose a few hundred thousand of them that seems to be ok with Biden and his democrat enablers. Or maybe it’s because the democrats are convinced that black people cannot figure out how to avoid pregnancy (either before, during or after) just like they cannot figure out how to vote. I truly hope black people are thankful for their friends in the Big House that look after them so well.
“After all, it is mainly black babies that are being snuffed out and if we lose a few hundred thousand of them that seems to be ok with Biden and his democrat enablers.”
Candace Owens (who is a black conservative) calls it black genocide. I heard Candace tear into one of our best-known moderate attorneys on the left. I could feel her visceral pain, and having pains of a similar nature could feel what she said.
We have a lot of white people advocating for the death of black babies. Some of them advocate a bit too strongly.
The reason we know that they are not sincere about everything they do is because they keep saying they are going to codify “Roe”. Roe does not exist…upon striking down the case it exists in legal studies only. If they were serious and not repeating and repeating this they need to be saying they’ll codify “Abortion” or “Right to Death” or “Right to Kill” (that which they can’t come to call LIFE). Of course they wouldn’t because it would be a POLITICAL ABORTION. Roe to these politicians is a buzzword. It has developed into a cult to a cult call that flippantly screams right to this…or right to that with various political nuances without a real acceptance and thought that Abortion/Death/Kill are abhorrent actions. So, Brandon is just a stick figure more like Pinocchio whose nose gets longer and longer for the past 38 or so years. (In this woke culture Pinocchio is gay). ROE is a word/name that ceased to exist upon wiping clean a wrongfully decided legal case. You don’t like it, speak to your cult leader that supports you called your Governor.
About Pinocchio: I am not one scintilla against being gay or the someday recognition of civil rights. I was told by some youth that the in the new Pinocchio they made him gay. I could be entirely wrong. Pinocchio was the perfect description of Brandon in all of his being. So if Disney went down that road, whatever. Wokeness is equivalent to a chaotic society that needs to be destroyed and rebuilt. Communism did just that and see how that turned out? Putin will kill or imprison anyone who speaks out against anything he does…Oh that’s right, no one does and that is his (like Hitler’s) military flaw. I just wanted to make that point.
This is all ‘Backwards’. I am not referring to the Presidents remarks or the Pro-Choice | Pro-Life positions,
nor the position of this Article.
How is it that We want Abortion Rights to give Women The-Freedom-of-Choice or Keep the Population in Check.
(squelch the population – expl: akin to 1 child per couple).
But we remove Our Boarder Defenses to absorb the Population from other Countries.
Wherein the Other countries are Over-Populated or in an Unsustainable Population Level,
may it be due to; Economic, Environmental, and availability of Medical Choices.
I feel it is crucial that the United States keep its Population at a ‘Sustainable-State-of-Equilibrium’.
The ‘stability’ is important as to making ‘Choice’ possible (either way, Pro-Choice or Pro-Life).
In order to make the “Choice” a viable option, the environs within the United States, will need to be reconciled with these factors: economic, environmental, political, legal, immigration, and sustainability.
Overall, there is a Ceiling (a Limit) to how much Population ‘is’ possible.
Because We are not at this point, imbalance is pulling and parting Our Society (fragmenting) where it has become politicized rather than reaching a sustainable-viable-solution.
That said, I am not hearing that discussion circulating.
Roe is one part of the equation, there are many other parts that need to be incorporated and balanced for a Constitutional-Codification to be a viable working solution.
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How many times over the past 50 years have the Democrats held the WH, the senate and the House? Why haven’t the Dems “codified Roe” during one of those times? In fact when they pushed the ACA Act through they even had a filibuster proof senate…and they didn’t “codify roe”. On top of what I just stated, their bill to “codify Roe” doesn’t actually codify Roe, it goes much further than Roe and if it was ever put to the test it would fail and fail badly.
Wouldn’t want those women to think they are anything more that baby makers! How dare he. Professor you just can’t stop yourself.
Holmes, you do know that they also kill FEMALE BABIES, right?
I don’t think Holmes knows what a female or a woman is.
My mom had eight kids and an idiot like you thinks all she was is a baby maker. You show your true colors of what YOU think of women.
Justice Holmes, I realize you don’t think we women understand this, but pregnancy (unless raped) is ALSO a “choice”. We all understand how it happens. In this day and age there are a multitude of means to avoid pregnancy. This mentality that we’re somehow a causality of anything other than our own choices is just another means of perpetuating victimhood.
I think Mr. Biden might be having a “senior moment” when he starts recounting his history and law and the constitution. History is not his forte any more than it is for Nikole Hannah-Jones.
Of course his “senior moments” appear to be so frequent as to make it difficult to know when one ends and another begins.
Recent news reports are suggesting that the 1st Lady is unhappy with the presidential staff for not intervening when the President starts to wonder about physically or mentally, so to speak.
A desperate attempt to sway the momentum of voters who are being crushed by economic challenges he and his administration created. Now, he wants to draw down the strategic reserves to dangerous levels trying to lower gas prices….until after election. He pleaded with OPEC to keep production high….until after the election.
He has virtually nothing on the White House agenda, spends a lot of time in his coastal mansion (he paid for with his Senatorial salary) and thinks the economy is “strong as hell.”
Enemies are circling, Russian planes flew right by our coast, the CCP is salivating over Taiwan and OPEC shot him the middle finger. He sells arms to Ukraine while negotiating with Iran. Meanwhile, Iran is supplying Russia with sophisticated drone technology that is killing Ukrainians.
You cannot make this up. Crime is rampant. The border is out of control. The DOJ and FBI spend more time harassing citizens than running down dangerous criminals. The Cartel is running the show at the border with five million crossings so far on his watch.,Drugs are flowing freely, a reverse opium war strategy brought to us compliments of the CCP.
No worries. The President will come out of his hole, have an ice cream and read the words from the teleprompter. But list of his “accomplishments” goes on and on and on. It is utter madness, unless this is their goal. The take down if the United States.
EM, a perfect comment!
E.M.
Could not of said it better myself!
Two thumbs up!
Excellent comment E.M. The desperation is palpable. Peter Zeihan recently posted two very short videos regarding how Xi and Putin have completely isolated themselves from receiving any policy recommendations that would actually be beneficial for the long-term survivability of their countries. As I listened to his analysis of Putin, the parallels with how the Putin regime currently operates and how the Biden regime and his weaponized agencies are operating are not much different. While Xi and Putin have deeply entrenched totalitarian regimes that are on a collision course for a complete collapse, the Biden regime and his weaponized agencies are not there…yet. Unlike Xi and Putin, Biden isn’t isolated from receiving recommendations that would be good for our country, it’s worse than that. He’s isolated from everything other than what he’s told to do for protecting the regime’s power.
On Putin and Russia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMPTqoI3BQA
On Xi and China: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL8r1DH1Hw8
Biden’s administration didn’t create the financial problems we are facing–that would be Trump: 1. trade war with China, causing shortages of consumer goods and computer chips, so when Biden turned around the Trump Recession, production didn’t ramp up fast enough to keep up with demand–low supply and high demand causes prices to increase; The Trump Recession was the worst since the Great Depression; 2. completely botched handling of COVID, causing the country to shut down for almost 2 years while he lied about Hydroxychloroquine and intentionally lied about how serious the pandemic was going to be; 3. drove unemployment to 10%–Biden turned that around; 4. tax breaks mostly benefitting the ultra-wealthy drove the national debt to record levels. Interest on the national debt alone is a driver of inflation. Biden has brought that down, too. Trump has proven he is totally incompetent–he has taken bankruptcy 6 times because his father wasn’t around to bail him out any more.
The economy IS strong–unemployment is virtually gone. Kids are back in school. Businesses, factories and restaurants are open again. People are taking vacations again. We are no longer setting daily records for deaths and new COVID infections. There is worldwide inflation and shortages of petroleum because Trump’s puppetmaster, Putin, started a war with Ukraine thinking that Trump’s insults to our EU and NATO allies alienated them so much that the US couldn’t pull together a united front to oppose him. He was wrong. Ukraine’s rout of Russia is breathtaking. Biden pulled together our NATO and EU allies, and NATO is stronger than ever. Finland, Sweden and Ukraine have petitioned to join NATO.
You are just repeating the Fox/alt right media rhetoric: create fear, blame Biden and the Democrats for everything, harp about crime, spread fear about the border. Biden issued an Executive Order blocking Venezuelans from entering the US unless they have family here. Thousands have been deported. The DOJ and FBI aren’t “harassing citizens”, either.
Biden has accomplished more in less than 2 years than Trump ever did or ever could: infrastructure bill creating thousands of good-paying jobs; Chips Act: to stimulate domestic production of computer chips, Veterans bill for benefits for those injured by burn pits; prescription drug prices brought down. Medicare can now negotiate prices.
Here’s the thing: if Republicans take over the House, they are going to try to repeal Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps. They have pledged to refuse to raise the debt ceiling unless Biden concedes on things they want, like requiring Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and food stamp benefits to GO DOWN and to require re-authorization every 5 years. This is not rhetoric–they have pledged to allow the US to go into default on debt unless they get their way. Biden will NEVER take away or agree to reduce the Social Security benefits people have planned on their entire lives and who have structured their retirement plans on the assumption that the benefits they earned will be there. Republicans also plan to try to outlaw ALL abortions–they lied about this being a “states right” issue–they want a total ban.
What have you been smoking???
Everything is just the opposite of what you said.
You really need professional help fir your Trump Derangement Disorder.
The truth is somewhere in the middle. Neither party cares about balancing the budget or long term financial strength. How many politicians would sign on to a bill that would require them to forfeit their salaries if they cannot balance a budget?
Everything I said is true and provable. If you had counter facts, you’d present them, but, like your hero, all you do is insult people, accuse them of being on drugs and/or mentally ill. That’s why I can’t respect people like you.
Gigi nearly everything you post is blatant error.
Most everyone with a brain knows that.
The burden of proof is highest for those with a track record of error – you.
Gigi, and you vote. SMH
Has the Republican leadership proposed a law to outlaw all abortions?
“Such rights must be established as deeply rooted in our history.”
That is a *false* premise. And that is *not* how one proves the existence of derivative rights (e.g., to travel, to contract, to choose customers, vaccines or an abortion). One proves the existence of those derivative rights by showing that they follow logically from the fundamental, individual right to life (which is primary) and the rights to property, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
That may be what you want, but it is not what SCOTUS has said. In Dobbs it relied on an earlier precedent to say that under the due process clause, unenumerated rights will only be recognised as constitutionally protected if they are deeply rooted in historical tradition or required by the concept of ordered liberty (whatever that may mean). It would at most apply the same test under the 9th Amendment.
“That may be what you want . . .”
It’s what I want because it’s the correct method by which to prove the existence of derivative rights. The SCOTUS/JT approach is tradition-bound relativism.
Don’t you just love politicians? For decades Republicans have been trying to untie abortion from the Constitution and bring the issue back to the states and when they get their wish Lindsay Graham decides to raise the specter of a FEDERAL ABORTION LAW restricting some states from being more pro-choice than other states??? Of course having a dumb Republican is just one side of the coin because as Graham’s bill hurt some Republicans IN THE MIDDLE OF AN ELECTION CYCLE, along comes the moron Biden and he promulgates a radical FEDERAL abortion law that is anathema to more voters than the Graham bill. Neither side can get out of their own way.
Biden states that he “has written many law review articles about the 9th Amendment and abortion”…? How many of you, like me, knew when you read that line that it was a complete and utter lie? The odds of this guy writing a law review article about anything is absurd, and the fact that he is claiming that he wrote these articles prior to Roe even being decided is an obvious lie. Of course the WP gave him two Pinocchios, because in the DEM to Repub chart, two Ds equals 4 Rs.
I would agree that Lindsay Graham is not the brightest bulb in the Republican light show. He is sort of like that old Christmas light that flickers and flickers and then goes out just when you think your entire string of lights are ready to hang. Often unwanted, epithet inducing and tone deaf.
As far as Joe is concerned, there are so many lights out that they are thinking about throwing out the whole string.
if he can give $2 Trillion to RICH college students in RICH states….killing babies is a easy!
Next Democrats will codify the infanticide of all republican and white babies
Clearly Biden is just exercising his deep Catholic faith. I am sure the Pope gave him and Pelosi his blessing to pursue this
Like Fascists care? Who is going to stop them? The 100% Corrupt DOJ, FBI, or other 3 letter DC agencies?
There is ONE solution…well one set of solutions
Rule of LAW
1-cut Fed spending 50%
2-move 75% of DC Fed Gov to the Heartland
3-tax all non-profits anyone gets more than $100K
4-Ban all fed college aid/loans
5-5% tax on Gross of all wall street transactions and movement of money offshore
6-Arrest all in the Russian Hoax
7-Jail all DC families selling our government…starting with Bidens and Pelosis
“ Such rights must be established as deeply rooted in our history.”
Huh, no. There is no such requirement that they must be established as deeply rooted in our history. That’s the doctrine of originalism. It’s not a law.
Is this the attempt of a make-believe Catholic to keep abortion lovers voting D – and not focusing on inflation, crime, make-believe southern border, etc.
Let’s Roe Brandon
Very classy.
Very fitting.
Very witty Darren!
Last I checked, this is still a Federal Republic with individual states that can tell Brandon to pound sand.
you haven’t checked often then!
progressive platform: abort babies while the mother is in labor.
heck inner cities do it up to 35 years.
“progressive platform: . . .”
Conservative platform: Put a bounty of the head of a woman who has an abortion. Send the morality police for the doctor who performs one.
The people see through this. If Biden were serious about his “promise,” why would he not have done that, that is, introduced a bill to protect abortions, while he enjoyed a Democrat House and Senate. That he didn’t along with what he did do are good reasons to pass him by and those who have supported his corruption.
In fact, the bill already passed the House and was then filibustered by Republicans in the Senate. Biden is hoping to elect enough Democrats to the Senate that they can change the filibuster rule. It only requires a majority, but Manchin and Sinema are against it.