Bravo, President Biden!

President Joe Biden said that Texas' restrictive new abortion law that went into effect Wednesday violates the Constitution and pledged to "protect and defend" abortion rights.

He said in a statement that the law, Texas SB 8, will “significantly impair women’s access to the health care they need, particularly for communities of color and individuals with low incomes.”

“And, outrageously, it deputizes private citizens to bring lawsuits against anyone who they believe has helped another person get an abortion, which might even include family members, health care workers, front desk staff at a health care clinic, or strangers with no connection to the individual,” Biden said.

Supreme Court silence

The law, which bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, went into effect after the Supreme Court didn’t respond to an eleventh-hour request by abortion rights advocates Monday to halt its implementation.

Democratic members of Congress expressed outrage at the Supreme Court for not taking action, with a number of them reviving the argument to expand the court the number of justices to offset the conservative jurists who were added by former President Donald Trump. Biden signed an executive order earlier this year establishing a commission to study changes to the court.

Many Democrats also called for Congress to codify a woman's right to choose by passing the Women's Health Protection Act.

"By its inaction, the Supreme Court ended abortion access in TX last night. Roe v. Wade was effectively overruled, not with a bang, but with a whimper, through the shadow docket. This is why we need to urgently pass the Women’s Health Protection Act — it can’t wait any longer," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the measure's lead sponsor in the Senate, tweeted Wednesday.

[nbcnews.com]