Former NFL tight end Benjamin Watson called out Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden Tuesday morning for asserting during a Monday night town hall event that Roe v. Wade — the 1973 Supreme Court decision granting nationwide legal cover to abortion — “must remain the law of the land.”
Overturning the landmark decision, the Christian athlete said, “would correctly return the issue to the states, where the people and their state governments will decide whether to deprive any person of life, liberty, and property.”
The former vice president made his comments defending Roe v. Wade after a woman asked how he plans to protect abortion access, particularly following President Donald Trump’s decision to nominate Chicago Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
Despite Barrett having said in the past she does not see the right to abortion going away, progressives have argued ad nauseam the jurist could spark the undoing of the high court’s decades old decision.
“No. 1, we don’t know exactly what she will do, although the expectation is that she may very well move to … overrule Roe,” said Biden. “And the only thing — the only responsible response to that would be to pass legislation making Roe the law of the land.”
“That’s what I would do,” he added.
Trump, for his part, also responded to Biden Tuesday morning.
The president argued via Twitter Biden’s statements Monday night indicate Democrats “are fully in favor of (very) late term abortion, right up until the time of birth, and beyond — which would be execution.”
Trump also referenced Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D), who suggested in January 2019 that he supports post-birth infanticide.
Northam made the remarks during his defense of a bill that would have codified a woman’s right to access abortion up until the point of birth, even if the mother is showing signs of labor. The governor, though, took it a step further, seemingly endorsing termination after birth.
“If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” he said. “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated, if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”