US President Joe Biden criticized a Florida Supreme Court decision on Tuesday that set the path for a “outrageous” ban on abortion after only six weeks of pregnancy.
“Yesterday’s extreme decision puts desperately needed medical care even further out of reach for millions of women in Florida and across the South,” said Vice President Joe Biden in a statement.
Biden stated that the court’s ruling would result in a Republican-backed measure reducing the current restriction of 15 weeks to six “before many (women) even know they are pregnant.”
“It is outrageous,” he exclaimed.
Biden’s Democrats are pushing reproductive rights ahead of this year’s US presidential election, where he will face Republican former President Donald Trump.
The Florida judgment, however, came at the same time as the court authorized an abortion rights amendment to appear on the November ballot.
The conservative-dominated Florida Supreme Court was debating both the validity of abortion restrictions and a proposed amendment that would codify a woman’s right to abortion in the state constitution.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who has led a countrywide tour to raise awareness about abortion, accused hard-right demagogue Trump of attempting to impose a nationwide ban.
“Donald Trump created this health care crisis, and he has no plans to stop now,” she said in a statement, referring to Trump’s appointment of judges to the US Supreme Court who overturned the federal right to abortion in 2022.
“If Donald Trump has his way, he’ll gut abortion care in every state across the country,” she said.