Biden says pro-abortion bill will be first he introduces if Democrats win midterms

US President Joe Biden said he will send a bill to the US Congress to legalize abortion on a national level if his party, the Democratic Party, wins a majority in the Senate and maintains the advantage in the number of seats in the House in the November 8 midterm elections.

“This is the promise I make to you and the American people: the first bill that I will send to Congress will be to codify Roe vs. Wade,” Biden said during a speech at the Howard Theater in Washington on Tuesday (18).

Convictions of Gazeta do Povo: Defense of life from conception

The president’s reference was to the decision in the case of Roe v. Wade, of 1973, in which the Supreme Court of the country prevented the American states from prohibiting abortion before the so-called viability – the minimum period of gestation for a fetus to survive outside the uterus, now estimated at about of 24 weeks.

In June, the court overturned that decision and several GOP-ruled states have implemented pro-life laws. “Let me say something. The Supreme Court and the extremist Republicans who spent decades trying to overthrow Roe are in for a surprise,” Biden said.

The Democrats currently have a slim majority in the House ( against 212 seats) and share the 100 seats in the Senate with the Republicans – Vice President Kamala Harris, as Speaker of the House, can cast tie-breaking votes.

However, to pass bills in Congress, Biden needs 60 out of 100 votes in the Senate. Democrats argue that this rule, called filibuster, should not be invoked and votes on pro-abortion bills should be decided by a simple majority.

With US year-on-year inflation reaching 8.2 % in September, analysts project that the Democratic Party will lose seats in both houses in the November election.

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