Biden hits Trump on abortion rights in video marking Dobbs anniversary
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
President Biden during a White House event last week. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
President Biden took aim at former President Trump on abortion rights in a new campaign video marking the second anniversary of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and ahead of this week's televised presidential debate.
Why it matters: The video is part of a push by Democrats linking Trump and other Republicans to what are seen as vulnerabilities for the GOP leading up to November's elections: abortion rights and access to birth control and IVF.
Driving the news: In echoes of previous comments by Biden and other Democrats, the president says in the video ahead of Thursday's presidential debate that Trump and Republicans are "coming for IVF and birth control next" if the former president is elected in November.
- "For MAGA Republicans, Roe is just the beginning," says Biden in the video, released Monday, as images of the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot are displayed.
- The White House statement announcing the ad on Monday notes the video is part of "a campaign-wide organizing push around the Dobbs anniversary, which includes more than 50 events across the country."
The big picture: Trump has insisted that abortion regulations should be left to the states to decide in the wake of the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision, but he has bragged about the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in the landmark case.
- Biden and other Democrats want to remind voters of the link between Trump's three court nominees and how they voted on Roe, Axios' Hans Nichols notes.
- Democrats have launched a reproductive rights blitz centered around the second anniversary of the end of Roe v. Wade that resulted in Republicans blocking a bill earlier this month that would have protected access to contraception at a federal level.
- Protecting in vitro fertilization has become a top campaign issue for Democrats after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling froze access to the treatment in the state and the Biden campaign released a video earlier this month targeting Trump and other Republicans on IVF.
- That's despite Trump, along with some other Republicans, saying that he supports access to IVF after the Alabama ruling.
Zoom out: "Already this year, Republican elected officials and states have filed more than 300 bills to restrict access to abortion care," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on a call with reporters Monday.
- Republicans have had "every opportunity to protect reproductive freedom" since the Dobbs decision but have refused to do so, she added.
- As examples, she pointed to Senate Republicans' blockage earlier this month of bills ensuring federal protections for in vitro fertilization (IVF) and access to contraception.
- "It's extreme, it's out of touch, and it's wrong," Jean-Pierre said.
Go deeper: Swing states to test Biden's abortion-rights push
Editor's note: This story was updated with comments from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
