Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra spoke out Tuesday in support of preserving the right to an abortion in response to the leaked draft of a Supreme Court ruling that would overturn Roe v. Wade.
“Patients make their own decisions about their own bodies. That’s their right,” Becerra said in a statement on Twitter. “I strongly believe in protecting and promoting access to health care — that includes sexual and reproductive health care, and that includes safe and legal abortion care.”
“Abortion remains legal today and patients can access care. The laws we have seen coming out of states that deny care are dangerous,” he added.
On Monday evening, Politico published a leaked majority draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito that would overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision as well as 1992’s Planned Parenthood v. Casey, both of which affirmed the right to an abortion.
Democrats are ripping the draft ruling, while Republicans are condemning whoever leaked it to the press.
In a written statement, President Biden said Roe v. Wade has been a part of U.S. law for nearly 50 years and “basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned.”
In the case that Roe v. Wade is overturned, Biden said, “It will fall on our nation’s elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman’s right to choose. 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,” said Biden.
