President Joe Biden wants to fight the midterm elections on preserving widespread legal abortion following the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade. But his base may view it as yet another issue on which Biden has failed to deliver as he pleads helplessness in the face of larger forces around him in Washington.

As Biden announced modest executive actions directing federal agencies to promote abortion access in various ways, he made a November plea. “The fastest way to restore Roe is to pass a national law codifying Roe, which I will sign immediately upon its passage at my desk,” he said.