Biden calls U.S. Supreme Court abortion ruling ‘a sad day for the court and for the country’

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday criticized the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision on abortion, saying the health and life of American women are now at risk.

“It’s a sad day for the court and for the country,” Biden said in a White House address after the ruling, which he said was taking the country back 150 years.

Biden promised to go on fighting for reproductive rights but said no executive order can guarantee a woman’s right to choose.

He urged voters to send lawmakers to Congress who will work to codify abortion rights as the law of the land.

“This fall, Roe is on the ballot. Personal freedoms are on the ballot,” Biden said, referring to the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision making abortion legal nationally.

Biden made a point of calling for any protests to remain peaceful. “No intimidation. Violence is never acceptable,” he said.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Writing by Doina Chiacu; editing by Jonathan Oatis)