Biden launches federal effort to respond to Texas law as he faces pressure to protect abortion

A new Texas law that effectively bans most abortions prompted President Joe Biden on Wednesday to use a word he'd entirely avoided as president: "Abortion."

The absence of the word in Biden's public remarks and statements has frustrated activists, who say it reflects an issue that fell off the priority list even as women's right to an abortion comes under threat in states across the Midwest and South.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday night formally denied a request from Texas abortion providers to freeze the state law, meaning it will remain on the books for now. Abortion providers in the state have already turned away patients, uncertain of their potential legal exposure.

In a statement Thursday morning, Biden used the word again, harshly criticizing the Texas law as an "unprecedented assault on a woman's constitutional rights."

In far stronger language than he'd employed a day earlier, Biden called the law's novel enforcement structure -- which allows private citizens to bring civil suits against anyone who assists a pregnant person seeking an abortion -- a "bizarre scheme" with the potential to unleash "unconstitutional chaos."

"Complete strangers will now be empowered to inject themselves in the most private and personal health decisions faced by women," he wrote.