Joe Biden to tout record on healthcare, protecting democracy in State of the Union

March 7 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden will address the nation Thursday night in his State of the Union speech, where he is expected to reflect on his achievements, outline his agenda for the future and convince the American people he is ready for a second term.

Biden will speak before both chambers of Congress starting at 9 p.m. EST. The address is mandated in the Constitution, requiring the president "from time to time to give to the Congress information of the State of the Union."

"You will hear the president lay out the historic achievements he has delivered on for the American people and his vision for the future," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday, as she previewed Biden's speech.

"Looking at what President Biden faced when he came into office and where we are now, it is clear he has gotten more done in the first three years than most presidents have accomplished in two terms," she said.

Biden will focus on his successes, such as infrastructure and lower drug prices, while laying out his plan for a second term.

"That includes lowering costs for Americans and giving people more breathing room, lowering healthcare premiums and taking on Big Pharma to lower the cost of prescription drugs, making the wealth and corporations pay their fair share in taxes, saving our democracy and protecting our democratic institutions, protecting women's reproductive health in the face of relentless attacks from Republican elected officials, making progress on his Unity Agenda, ending cancer as we know it, delivering on the sacred obligation to veterans, tackling the mental health crisis and beating the opioid and overdose pandemic," Jean-Pierre said.

Several notable guests, invited by Democrats and Republicans, will be in attendance to highlight ongoing issues in the United States and around the world.

Those guests will include the families of American hostages being held in Gaza. The families will be in the chamber to highlight the plight of their loved ones who have been held by Hamas since Oct. 7, as Israel continues its war in the Palestinian territory.

Two New York Police Department officers who were attacked in January in Times Square will attend, as well as several Border Patrol agents, to highlight illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Abortion rights will also be front and center with the attendance of two women who fled their states for the procedure following the reversal of Roe vs. Wade. Kate Cox, who will attend as first lady Jill Biden's guest, was more than 10 weeks pregnant when she learned her fetus had fatal anomalies. Cox sued Texas for the right to terminate the nonviable pregnancy and later left the state to receive abortion care.

An Indiana doctor who provided abortion care for a 10-year-old girl after she was raped and was denied an abortion in Ohio will also attend.

Elizabeth Carr, the first person to be born via in-vitro fertilization, said in a recent statement that she will draw attention to the "many people in-vitro has helped build the family of their dreams." Carr's appearance comes as IVF clinics shut down in response to the Alabama Supreme Court's ruling last month that frozen embryos are people and are subject to wrongful death of a minor.

The parents of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will attend "to shine a spotlight on the unjust detention of their son" in Russia on espionage charges, House Speaker Mike Johnson said.

Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was invited, but will not be able to attend, according to the White House.

Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska is also unable to attend. Congress has stalled in passing more aid for Ukraine in its war with Russia since Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky's last visit to Washington in December.