Biden says "women's health and lives" are at risk after Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade

Planned Parenthood: “The right to bodily autonomy is being lost” 1:51

(CNN) --

United States President Joe Biden said Friday that "the health and lives of women in this nation are now at risk" after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v.

Wade and eliminated the constitutional right to abortion.

“It is a sad day for the Court and for the country,” Biden said, in a statement from the White House.

The White House has been preparing for the ruling by the nation's highest court, which was announced Friday morning, and has been planning next steps for months.

While there is little the president can do via executive order to fully mitigate the decision, and virtually nothing he can do to restore abortion rights across the country, there are a number of steps Biden has been weighing in consultation with political advisers, political advisers and lawyers.

Some of the options the president has been considering include removing barriers to accessing medical abortion and challenging state laws that criminalize out-of-state travel for an abortion, CNN reported.

The president could also declare a public health emergency, which could protect doctors from legal liability if they treat patients in states where they are not licensed.

• What is medical abortion and who has access to it?

The president has also asked Congress to pass legislation codifying Roe v.

Wade, but Democrats currently don't have the votes in the Senate to send such legislation to Biden's desk.

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The president said earlier this month that he believed if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v.

Wade, would spark a "mini-revolution" and galvanize Americans to vote many Republicans out of office in this year's midterm elections.

Democratic officials and abortion rights groups expressed outrage in response to Friday's ruling.

The "realization of an extreme ideology"

Biden, speaking after the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v.

Wade attributed the ruling to the three judges appointed by former President Trump, adding that "it is the realization of extreme ideology."

"It was three judges appointed by a president, Donald Trump, who were at the core of today's decision to shift the scales of justice and take away a fundamental right of women in this country. Make no mistake, this decision is the culmination of a deliberate effort over decades to upset the balance of our law," Biden said.

“It is the realization of an extreme ideology and a tragic error of the Supreme Court in my opinion,” he added.

“The Court has done what it has never done before, expressly remove a constitutional right that is so fundamental to so many Americans that it had already been recognized.

The Court's decision to do so will have real and immediate consequences,” he said.

CNN's Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.

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