President Joe Biden has staked his party’s chances of maintaining control of Congress after the midterm elections on one central issue: abortion. In a brief speech in Washington, D.C., Biden promised that he would immediately “codify” abortion rights in January, so long as Democrats maintain a majority in the House and Senate.

On Tuesday, Biden spoke in front of a friendly audience at a Democratic National Committee event at the Howard Theater. Though he addressed several issues, his promises regarding so-called abortion rights have quickly made headlines.

In order to contextualize his promise to federalize abortion rights, Biden referenced the Dobbs Supreme Court decision rendered back in June, a decision which overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling and returned the abortion issue back to individual states.