Biden Decries Overturning of Roe in White House Address: ‘The Health and Life of Women In This Nation Are Now at Risk’

President Joe Biden slammed the Supreme Court decision to overturn the landmark abortion decision Roe v. Wade, calling it “a sad day for the court and for the country” and warning that the “the health and life of women in this nation are now at risk.”

Biden started his White House speech by calling Friday’s released decision, which also overturned the landmark abortion decision Planned Parenthood v. Casey, “a very solemn moment.”

“Today, the Supreme Court of the United States expressly took away the constitutional right from the American people that it had already recognized,” he said. “They didn’t limit it. They simply took it away. That’s never been done to a right so important to so many Americans. But they did it. It’s a sad day for the court and for the country.”

Biden remarked that Roe “protected a woman’s right to choose. Her right to make intensely personal decisions with her doctor, free from interference of politics. It reaffirmed basic principles of equality, that women have the pouter to control their own destiny. It reinforced a right of privacy, a right of each of us to choose how to live our lives.”

However, continued Biden, “Now with Roe gone, let’s be very clear: the health and life of women in this nation are now at risk.”

Biden blamed his predecessor, Donald Trump, for tipping the balance of power on the Supreme Court in a direction that allowed for Roe to be overturned. Trump’s appointed justices – Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett – were in the 5-4 majority.

Finally, the president called for peaceful protests in light of the decision, following weeks of violence and vandalism against pro-life institutions including pregnancy centers and churches.

“Peaceful, peaceful, peaceful. No intimidation. Violence is never acceptable. Threats and intimidation are not speech,” he said. “We must stand against violence in any form, regardless of your rationale.”

Watch above, via MSNBC.