“Assumed it was settled law”, despite RBG herself at the time saying what amounted to “this is a flimsy interpretation that will likely be overturned, but we’re going to make it anyway and the government should codify it into law rather than relying on us legislating from the bench”.
Spoiler: No democratic president/congress ever bothered to, and it was rightfully (in a legal, not moral sense) overturned just as she predicted.
Please show me when there were 60 senators who would support this. Oh that's right at no point did that exist. Obama barely had 60 for Obamacare and that includes multiple people who would never vote for abortion. So your spoiler is quite divorced from reality
Even if there ever was a coalition of 60 pro-choice senators, it wouldn't matter. Federal abortion protections would need to be passed under the commerce clause and would obviously be challenged and struck down by the 6-3 court. Even EMTALA, which ties federal funding for hospitals to a requirement that hospitals provide abortion care for pregnant people when a pregnancy is a serious threat to their health, is being challenged in court (and successfully blocked in the 5th circuit). The challenge would be even easier for the right if there's no connection to serious threats to the health of the pregnant woman.
All of these "you should have ignored the courts and focused on legislation" arguments aren't based in a lick of reality.
RBG had more power than almost anybody else on the planet to protect Roe by retiring when the dems had the ability to confirm a replacement. She chose not to. Frankly, I don't think she's the best source of wisdom for practical politicking around protecting abortion rights.
Do you really think that federal abortion protections would stand up to this court? They aren't even able to stand behind EMTALA protecting abortions when it is essential for the health of the pregnant woman. There is absolutely no way that federal legislation protecting abortion up to viability would resist conservative challenge in the courts given the supreme court's current makeup.
Spoiler: No democratic president/congress ever bothered to, and it was rightfully (in a legal, not moral sense) overturned just as she predicted.