White House's Keisha Lance Bottom pressed on whether Biden supports any limits on abortion
White House staffer Keisha Lance Bottoms was pressed by "Morning Joe" host Willie Geist on Tuesday about whether President Biden supports any limits on abortion.
Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement Keisha Lance Bottoms was pressed by "Morning Joe" co-host Willie Geist on whether President Biden supports any limits on abortion.
The MSNBC host asked Bottoms about whether Biden supports "abortion without limits," as some Democrats have advocated, which he labeled as "an extreme position" according to the polls. Bottoms said that the president supports a women's right to choose.
"What the president believes is that there should be a fundamental right for a woman to choose what to do with her own body and the president said this time and time again that their basic fundamental rights, access to health care. This access to health care includes women across the country and what we expect to see is that especially college-aged women, women who have had to face the very difficult choices will be reminded of this, especially during this season," she said.
Geist pressed further and asked if it meant that Biden supports abortion at "any time during the pregnancy, whether its 3 weeks or 30 weeks."
Keisha Lance Bottoms joins MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Tuesday. (Screenshot/MSNBC/MorningJoe)
"What the president has said publicly is that he supports a woman’s right to choose, I've never heard the president give a time frame on that, but he has said that he believes that a woman has a fundamental right to make decisions about her own body and health care choices," Bottoms said.
Host Mika Brzezinski asked Bottoms about how the White House plans to draw attention to the abortion issue ahead of the midterms.
"Why do you think this is becoming more remote to the minds of voters, at least what we're seeing in the polls? Is it that the Democrats need to communicate effectively on crime and the economy?" Brzezinski asked. "How do we communicate to all women, especially maybe younger women, younger women who think, ‘this is something remote from me’? How do we get them to focus about this is all about us and the power over decisions over our bodies and also our healthcare choices?"
Bottoms said they need to keep reminding people about the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and the idea that the country is moving "backwards."
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on what he calls the "continued battle for the Soul of the Nation" in front of Independence Hall at Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia, U.S., September 1, 2022. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY/File Photo)
"We know that people have difficult decisions facing them each and every day and so sometimes people are only concerned about the things that are just before them and rightfully so, but its important that we remind people that elections matter. That it matters if you have a Congress that supports a woman’s right to choose. So we have to remind people, we have to keep reminding people how far backwards that the Supreme Court taken us with the Dobbs decision," Bottoms said.
"That should concern all voters, and we know that Dobbs is more than 100 days behind us, but it’s important to continue to remind the American people what it means for women across the country. The fundamental right to make decisions about our own bodies," Bottoms said.
Abortion rights demonstrators gather near the State Capitol in Austin, Texas, June 25, 2022.(Photo by SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images) (Photo by SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images)
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Biden vowed to introduce legislation on abortion protections in the next Congress if Democrats keep control.
"In these midterm elections it is so critical to elect more Democratic Senators to the United States Senate and more Democrats to keep control of the House of Representatives," Biden said Tuesday. "If we do that, here's the promise I make to you and the American people: The first bill I will send to the Congress will be to codify Roe v. Wade."