The Biden administration is meeting with business leaders and activists on ways to protect abortion rights after a leaked draft opinion from the Supreme Court raised expectations justices will soon overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that guaranteed the right to choose the procedure, White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed Friday.
"Our effort and our focus is on broadly engaging about the specifics on possible actions and preparing for the release of a final opinion when that is released early this summer," she said aboard Air Force One.
"We are in conversations with a wide range of people, including women's groups, including pro-choice activists, including folks inside of D.C., outside of D.C., including business leaders, philanthropy, members of Congress, state legislatures, governors, advocacy groups.
"Across the board, we're using the convening power of the White House to talk to a broad range of groups," Psaki added before reiterating that "our preference would be for Congress to codify Roe and, of course, for the final opinion not to look like the leaked opinion."
"We are also supportive of states'" work to protect women seeking abortions. "We're going to work with a broad range of stakeholders as we prepare for a final opinion to be released in June."
President Joe Biden on Tuesday blasted the "radical" Supreme Court draft opinion that would throw out the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion-rights ruling that has stood for a half-century. He warned that other privacy rights including same-sex marriage and birth control are at risk if the justices follow through on the draft that the court emphasized was not final.
"If the court does overturn Roe, it will fall on our nation's elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman's right to choose," Biden said. "And it will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November. At the federal level, we will need more pro-choice senators and a pro-choice majority in the House to adopt legislation that codifies Roe, which I will work to pass and sign into law."
Pro-choice abortion activists have called on Americans to protest the potential overturning of Roe. Meanwhile, multiple red states are passing legislation setting strict new limits on abortion or even barring the practice in anticipation of a Roe reversal.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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