Taking advantage of Florida’s impending abortion ban, President Joe Biden will offer a speech next week that centers on the topic of abortion, arguing for reproductive rights more generally.
A campaign official confirmed to AWN that Biden will likely link the 2024 race to nationwide access to reproductive rights during his Tuesday campaign rally in Tampa. It was NBC News that broke the news of Biden’s upcoming speech.
After Trump stated earlier this month that he would respect abortion restrictions passed at the state level, the Biden campaign has been critical of Trump on the issue of abortion in the past several weeks. Several state-level lawsuits pushed Trump and the GOP to the defensive on the matter in a short amount of time. The Supreme Court of Arizona has upheld a prohibition on abortion that dates back to 1864, and a six-week ban in Florida, which was passed by the legislature, will soon be enforced.
As a devout Catholic who has frequently shown discomfort with the topic, Biden’s direct addressing of abortion is also noteworthy. To advocate for abortion rights, he has instead frequently relied on other spokespeople, such as Vice President Kamala Harris and women who have been directly impacted. Multiple advertisements for his campaign have taken the form of testimonials, with women relating their own experiences with abortion.
“Reproductive rights have always been on the ballot since Roe v. Wade was overturned, and this November will be no different,” stated Morgan Mohr, senior adviser for reproductive rights for the Biden campaign. “President Joe Biden is vying to reinstate reproductive freedom, while Donald Trump boasts about imposing these severe and harmful bans.”
On May 1, the state’s six-week prohibition will be enforced after the conservative-leaning Supreme Court this month affirmed it. Because of this law, women in the Southeast will no longer be able to get an abortion. Although the practice will come to an end with the introduction of the law, thousands of patients from surrounding states with tougher abortion regulations still go to Florida to get the surgery done.
Voters in Florida will have another opportunity to safeguard abortion this November if a measure to that effect receives 60 percent of the vote. Through this program, abortions will be legal up until the point of viability, which is often approximately 24 weeks into the pregnancy.
