Time to codify Roe v. Wade, Klobuchar advises amid uncertainty about fate of landmark abortion case
With the Supreme Court expected to uphold a restrictive Mississippi abortion law — and possibly overturn a landmark Roe v. Wade ruling — it’s time to codify abortion rights, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) says.
“The best way to do it is not a patchwork of state laws, but to ...codify Roe v. Wade, put it into law,” she said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” about how to protect abortion rights.
According to Klobuchar, the Women’s Health Protection Act would do that, though the legislation has failed to gain momentum in Congress.
Last week, members of the Supreme Court’s conservative majority voiced support of a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a policy decried by abortion rights advocates as too restrictive.
The conservative justices have also showed support for overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which allows abortion until 24 weeks of pregnancy. Under the current law of the land, states can regulate but not ban abortion.
That’s anathema to Klobuchar.
“The ultimate answer would be to uphold 50 years of precedent and the Court doing the right thing,” she said.
Meanwhile, Mississippi is ready to enforce a near total crackdown on abortions if Roe v. Wade is overturned, the state’s Republican governor said.
“If you believe, as I believe very strongly, that the innocent unborn child in the mother’s womb is, in fact, a child, the most important word when we talk about unborn children is not unborn, but it’s children,” GOP Mississippi Tate Reeves told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “And so, yes, I will do everything I can to protect the lives of those children.”
The staunch anti-abortion pol wouldn’t cede any ground when asked if an official ban on abortion would lead to women being injured or killed undergoing covert procedures.
“I certainly would hope that that would not be the case,” he said.
With News Wire Services
