Joe Biden warns LGBTQ+ kids will be next targets of ‘extreme MAGA crowd’ after Roe v Wade
Biden warns LGBT kids could be next targets of “Maga crowd” Republicans (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Joe Biden has warned that LGBTQ+ children could be the next targets of the Republican party after a leaked Supreme Court opinion indicated that Roe v Wade may be overturned.
The president told journalists at the White House that the “MAGA crowd” is “the most extreme political organisation… in recent American history” after the leaked draft was confirmed to be legitimate.
According to The Guardian, Biden told reporters: “What happens if a state changes the law saying that children who are LGBTQ+ can’t be in classrooms with other children? Is that legit under the way the decision is written?”
Biden was referring to the draft opinion penned by conservative justice Samuel Alito to overturn Roe v Wade, which legalised abortion across the country in 1973, on the basis that abortion rights are not codified in the Constitution.
Politico reported that the leaked draft by Alito read: “We hold that Roe… must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision.”
Chief justice John Roberts has confirmed the leak, but has said that it is not a final position. A definitive ruling is expected in the summer.
Vice president Kamala Harris also condemned the move to overturn Roe v Wade, saying on Tuesday (3 May): “Those Republican leaders who are trying to weaponise the use of the law against women. Well, we say: ‘How dare they?’
“How dare they tell a woman what she can do and cannot do with her own body? How dare they? How dare they try to stop her from determining her own future? How dare they try to deny women their rights and their freedoms?'”
As we’ve warned, SCOTUS isn’t just coming for abortion – they’re coming for the right to privacy Roe rests on, which includes gay marriage + civil rights.
Manchin is blocking Congress codifying Roe. House has seemingly forgotten about Clarence Thomas. These 2 points must change https://t.co/5Isec0osV0— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 3, 2022
After the leak, representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez agreed that the assault on human rights would not end with abortion, warning that same-sex marriage could be the next target.
“As we’ve warned, SCOTUS [Supreme Court of the United States] isn’t just coming for abortion – they’re coming for the right to privacy Roe rests on, which includes gay marriage and civil rights”, she said on Twitter.
The opinion to overturn Roe v Wade is still a draft, and the court’s holding will not be final until it is published.
The BBC reported that if the majority opinion remains the same, abortion would become instantly illegal in the 22 US states which still have total bans that were made defunct after Roe v Wade.
The New York Times found that if the landmark ruling was overturned, “41 per cent of women of childbearing age would see the nearest abortion clinic close, and the average distance they would have to travel to reach one would be 279 miles, up from 35 miles now”.
