PC: Financial Times

In the event that two more Democrats are elected to the U.S. Senate in the 2018 midterm elections, President Joe Biden promised on Friday that Democrats will codify the right to an abortion into law.

At the National Education Association’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., the largest union in the nation, Biden promised that if the Senate gave him two more senators, “we’re going to codify Roe and make Roe the law of the land once again.”

At a DNC gathering, Biden urged supporters to think about “what’s on the ballot,” including abortion, Social Security, and gun control, with only 46 days before election day in November.

The American people, especially the women, have the power to make things happen, according to Biden. “I don’t believe the MAGA Republicans understand the influence that American women have. They’re about to learn, I’ll tell you that much.

After the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling in June invalidated the right to an abortion enshrined nearly 50 years earlier in Roe v. Wade, abortion has become a significant issue for voters across the nation.

According to data gathered by The New York Times, 13 states have already enacted complete bans on abortions. In total, about half of states have restricted, outlawed, or tried to outlaw abortion. Republicans have suggested a national ban on abortions after 15 weeks, or during the second trimester of pregnancy, including Sen. Lindsey Graham earlier this month.

Others, such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, have disavowed the proposal, insisting that it belongs in the hands of the individual states.

In his speech on Friday, Biden stated that if Republicans won control of the legislature following the November elections, they would work to enact an abortion prohibition.

The president vowed, “I will veto it” if they did.