On Friday, Jill Biden spoke about assisting a friend in getting an abortion before Roe v. Wade and criticized “extreme Republicans” for trying to return women “to that period.”
Before abortions were legalized in the 1960s, the first lady spoke in-depth about how she assisted a friend in healing from the operation. She then used this experience to criticize Republicans who are working for anti-abortion legislation.
In the November election, which will determine who controls Congress, Democrats are hoping that the abortion debate will spur Americans to the polls.
Biden said that her friend, who fell pregnant as a teen in the late 1960s, was unable to have an abortion without first undergoing psychiatric testing and having a mental health assessment performed on her.
At the time, the first woman was 17 and resided in Pennsylvania, a state that forbade abortion.
She added, “She informed me that the only way to abort the pregnancy was to go through a psychiatric examination that would pronounce her mentally unfit before the doctor would conduct the surgery.”
She didn’t say who the buddy was.
She spoke about visiting her buddy at the hospital and claimed to have sobbed the whole way home.
After the abortion, Biden’s companion was unable to return home, so Biden’s mother, Bonny Jean Jacobs, agreed to let the young woman remain with them.
She said that neither she nor her deceased mother ever brought up the incident again, and neither did they tell anybody what had happened—including Biden’s father.
‘Secrecy. Shame. Silence. Danger. even demise For so many women, that was what that era was all about, according to Biden.
She then changed the subject to the recent Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization verdict by the Supreme Court, which nullified the Roe decision. The Roe v. Wade ruling was rendered in 1973.
She remarked, “I was stunned when the Dobbs judgment came out. “How could we return to that period?”
Biden made her remarks on Friday in San Francisco at a fundraiser for House Democrats. She was presented by Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the occasion, which took place at the Fairmont Hotel, a venerable building on wealthy Nob Hill in San Francisco.
She criticized Republicans for promoting state bills that would limit women’s access to abortions.
Extremist Republicans are enacting state laws, she said, that bar women from receiving the medical treatment they need.
Biden pointed out that Republican state lawmakers are attempting to undo advancements in marriage equality, voting rights, and healthcare throughout the nation.
On October 2, it had been 100 days after the Dobbs decision, which gave the states control over the debate over abortion rights.
According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, eight states have passed legislation protecting abortion rights, while 13 states have since made abortion illegal.
According to the White House, almost 22 million women of reproductive age cannot obtain abortion treatment beyond six weeks, which is before the majority of women are aware they are pregnant. Additionally, nearly 30 million women of reproductive age currently reside in a state that has an abortion prohibition.
At a fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the first lady gave a speech. Tickets ranged in price from $500 per dish to $36,500 for VIP access.
Biden is visiting the West Coast for three days. As part of her Cancer Moonshot effort earlier on Friday, she went to the University of California San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.
She is in Seattle on Saturday, where she will attend a Joining Forces event with Democratic Sen. Patty Murray and make an appearance at a fundraiser for the senator.
Democrats are promoting abortion rights in an effort to encourage their supporters to vote in the election for control of Congress in November.
Roman Catholic President Joe Biden, who has grappled with the issue of abortion access, has encouraged women to utilize their political influence to defeat Republicans on November 8.
In that conflict, Jill Biden is a particularly effective weapon. Her remarks on Friday were the most private she has ever made on the abortion debate, despite her seldom public speaking.
For the women whose lives are at risk, as well as for the dads, brothers, spouses, and sons who care about them, there is just too much at stake. We need you in this battle as well, she said.
“Women will not let our nation regress. We have battled for too long and too hard.
And we are aware that much too much is at stake. We won’t leave our children and granddaughters with a radical Republican agenda as our legacy. However, this necessitates immediate action.
And she added: “And here’s the thing about women that those radicals don’t get.” We have previously suffered from underestimation. It’s hardly the first time that someone has attempted to limit our options.
There was a standing ovation for her comments.