Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) recently advocated for abortion rights to be legislated at the federal level. During an appearance with host Kristen Welker on CBS’ “Meet the Press,” he discussed abortion and urged President Joe Biden to be re-elected to ensure Congress passes legislation to allow the federal government to dictate policy on the procedure.
During the interview, Welker mentioned Arizona, calling it “essentially ground zero of the national fight over abortion rights” and asked whether the state’s repeal of the 1864 abortion law “minimizes the urgency that some voters will feel to get out and vote Democrat.” “
Kelly responded by advocating for federal legislation to codify so-called abortion rights.
“I think women in Arizona have gone through a really difficult time, and it all starts with the election of Donald Trump and what he said he wanted to do with Roe v. Wade. He recently said he broke it. It’s all his fault that women in the state of Arizona don’t have the rights they had before. Women cannot currently get the health care they need in this state. This November, we have a chance to address this issue at the state level through a ballot initiative. What we really need is national legislation that codifies women’s rights to make such decisions. This will only happen and be written into law if Joe Biden is re-elected president.”
Welker asked if Kelly would be in favor of abolishing the filibuster to perpetuate the sanctuary Roe v. Wade right. Kelly said yes.
“Yes, I would. When we looked at voting rights legislation, I voted for that as well. I spent 15 years at NASA, piloting the space shuttle. If NASA had U.S. Senate rules, the rocket would never have left the launch pad. So sometimes, I think, when the time is right, I would consider changing those policies to ensure that women have access to the health care that they need.”
Senator Mark Kelly supports codifying abortion into law at the federal level.
“What we really need is national legislation codifying women’s rights to be able to make these decisions. This will only happen and be written into law if Joe Biden is re-elected president.” pic.twitter.com/p7Rmli96Rj
— Jeff Charles, An Awful Pundit🏴 (@jeffcharlesjr) May 5, 2024
Talk about coding Roe at the federal level came just after the Supreme Court overturned a landmark abortion ruling in 2022. Democrats tried to hold a vote to break a filibuster to legalize abortion nationally.
Reports say Democrats attempted to break the filibuster so they could bring Wade v. Wade to codify it into law. Their ultimate goal was to legalize abortion throughout the country up to birth, without any restrictions. As you can imagine, every Republican voted against the proposal, and they were joined by none other than West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin, who had made it clear earlier in the day that he would vote against it.
As a result, Democrats fell 11 votes low of what they needed to pass Roe.
President Biden has vowed to push these efforts if voters give Democrats control of both houses of Congress.
On Tuesday, Biden will deliver a speech to the DNC in which he will commit to codifying abortion rights soon after the next Congress convenes, provided he has a comfortable majority in both the House and Senate:
“He will say that if the American people elect more Democratic senators in November and keep a Democratic House of Representatives, the first bill he will send to the next Congress will be a codification of Roe — and he will sign it on about the 50th anniversary of Roe,” he said The Hill Democratic official before speech.
The Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision came on January 22, 1973, and the 50th anniversary was just a few days after the recent Congress was sworn in.
“President Biden will speak to the choice voters face in November between Republicans who want a national abortion ban that would criminalize doctors for providing care and Democrats who want to codify Roe into law to protect women’s reproductive freedom,” the official said.
Abortion is expected to be a key issue in the 2024 elections.
