Washington Post Political Reporter and Post Politics Now Anchor John Wagner

President Biden delivered an emotional speech Friday announcing an array of steps aimed at bolstering abortion rights, responding to growing demands from activists that he take bolder and more forceful action two weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Biden, joined by Vice President Harris, gave his fiery and at times angry remarks from the Roosevelt Room of the White House before signing an executive order to enhance access to reproductive health-care services. While abortion activists generally welcomed the move, many said it would likely do little for women in states where abortion is banned.

Biden himself acknowledged the limits of his executive powers as he railed against the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling, calling it “the Supreme Court’s terrible, extreme and, I think, so totally wrongheaded decision.” He said the court’s majority is “playing fast and loose with the facts” by misrepresenting the history of abortion rights in America. “What we’re witnessing wasn’t a constitutional judgment,” Biden said. “It was an exercise in raw political power.”

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