Abortion wasn’t a big topic in State of the Union
Toward the end of his speech, President Biden called on Congress to codify Roe v. Wade and promised to veto a national abortion ban. But that was pretty much all he had to say about the issue, which was noteworthy given what an eventful year it's been for abortion rights and access. Since the Supreme Court overruled Roe last summer, more than a dozen states have imposed near-total bans on abortion and the support for abortion access ended up being a major issue in the 2022 midterms.
Biden's lack of attention to the issue might be reflective of the fact that there's really not much he can do when it comes to abortion rights -- Democrats in Congress didn't have the votes to codify Roe last fall, and with a divided Congress, there isn't likely to be more action. State legislatures and courts will have a much bigger impact on abortion access in the meantime. But some Democrats might have wanted Biden to say more on the topic, because their views on abortion are changing. For example, polling by Civiqs shows that Democrats are more likely to support legal abortion in all cases than they were even two years ago.
-FiveThirtyEight's Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux