US President Joe Biden speaks at an event in Washington DC on June 23.
The US Supreme Court's decision - which overturned the landmark 1973 ruling Roe v. Wade - left the power to pass abortion laws to individual states in the US. Some states have since taken drastic steps to prevent women from having abortions.
"The state bans are just the beginning... Their (Republican) agenda is extreme, dangerous, and out of step with the vast majority of Americans," US President Joe Biden said in a statement on June 24, marking the first anniversary of the Supreme Court's ruling, according to AFP.
Pro- and anti-abortion groups in the US held competing events in Washington DC on June 24, and US Vice President Kamala Harris spoke of a health “crisis” related to reproductive rights in a speech in North Carolina.
About 20 states, mostly in the South and Midwest, have banned abortion outright or severely restricted access to the service, while several others, mostly on the coasts, have acted to protect women's right to abortion.
The closure of abortion clinics in more than 10 states has forced tens of thousands of women to go elsewhere to get the procedure.
Biden, a Democrat, also warned that Republicans were pushing for a nationwide abortion ban.
" Congressional Republicans want to ban abortion nationwide, but they're going further, by keeping FDA-approved abortion-ending drugs off the market and making it harder to get birth control," the US president said, referring to the country's Food and Drug Administration.
With a divided Congress, there is little Mr Biden can do. However, he has said he will push for federal protections.
“My administration will continue to defend access to reproductive health care and call on Congress to restore Roe v. Wade protections in federal law once and for all,” he said.
Abortion rights have become a key issue for Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections and are likely to be just as important in the 2024 presidential race.
The issue has also been exploited in Republican campaigns. Candidates in the primary have tried to tap into former President Donald Trump’s ambivalent stance on abortion rights. Trump is currently the front-runner in polls for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Speaking on June 23, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis praised the six-week abortion ban he signed into law in his state, while former Vice President Mike Pence called on all candidates to support a nationwide ban.
"It's the right thing to do - don't let anyone tell you it's not right," Mr DeSantis said in a reference to Mr Trump, who has criticised the Florida law as "too draconian".
On the same day, Mr. Biden received the endorsement of America's leading abortion rights groups, including Planned Parenthood, NARAL and Emily's List.
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