White House press secretary Jen Psaki repeatedly dodged press questions Wednesday asking if the administration of President Joe Biden would see a potential U.S. Supreme Court decision ending the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that makes abortion a federal right as "legitimate."
"Well, there is not even a decision yet," Psaki said Wednesday of the draft decision leaked to Politico on Monday night that signals the high court overruling the 49-year-old ruling and sending the issue back to the states. "We don't know the validity of the — we know that this is a leaked document; it is not the final opinion. So, I just can't speak to that hypothetically at this point in time."
Politico leaked the draft decision Monday night, a move that is rare, but not unprecedented in the history of the court, which states that the court will overturn its prior ruling.
"We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled," the draft reads. "The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision."
Instead of directly answering if Biden would accept the court's ruling as "legitimate," Psaki said she couldn't talk about anything the administration might legally do once the decision is final and pointed to what she said the impacts of the decision would be.
"Well, I can't speak for what actions could be possible on the legal front; I would point you to the Department of Justice on that," she said.
"But what I can tell you will happen is — and this is what we are preparing for the possibility of — that if Roe were to fall, abortion would probably be illegal in about half the states in the country, up to 26 states, particularly in the South, the Midwest, and West, who have all spoken out — many leaders — about how they're poised to restrict or ban access. Some have even taken action, even as recently as yesterday, as crazy as that sounds."
She then mentioned 13 states with "trigger laws" to restrict or ban abortions that would immediately go into effect once the court's decision to overturn Roe is final.
"What we're really focused on is the impact this would have. It would dramatically reduce access to reproductive care, particularly for women with low incomes, women of color, women in rural communities," she said. "We know that 75 percent of those seeking abortions are living at or below 200 percent of the poverty level, and the majority of patients seeking abortions identify as Black, Hispanic, and AAPI [Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders]."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 629,898 legally induced abortions were reported to the agency in 2019, with almost 60% of those performed on women in their '20s.
The agency reported a rate of 11.4 abortions per 1,000 women age 15-44, and a ratio of 195 abortions per 1,000 live births.
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