Two weeks after the conservative majority on the Supreme Court voted to reverse the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, President Joe Biden signed a new executive order addressing Americans’ access to abortion.
Along with Vice President Kamala Harris and the Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, Biden denounced the court’s ruling as “extreme” and “totally wrong” in a speech from the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Friday.
“This isn’t some imagined horror,” Biden said. “It is already happening. Just last week, it was reported that a 10-year-old girl was a rape victim — 10 years old — and she was forced to have to travel out of state to Indiana to seek to terminate the pregnancy and maybe save her life.”
“Imagine being that little girl,” he continued. “I’m serious. Just imagine being that little girl.”
Following the ruling, Biden faced pressure from his Democratic colleagues to act more forcefully after the high court’s decision was leaked in May.
As a result of his executive order, the administration is finalizing what has already been announced. The Justice Department has been instructed to ensure women can travel out of state to receive abortion care.
The order addresses elevated risks for patients, providers, and clinics, including efforts to protect mobile clinics that offer out-of-state care at state borders.
As a result of Biden’s action, Merrick Garland, the attorney general, and the White House counsel are instructed to gather volunteer lawyers and organizations to “encourage robust legal representation of patients, providers, and third parties lawfully seeking or offering reproductive health care services throughout the country.”
Additionally, Biden has stated that he will offer time off for federal employees who need to travel for medical treatment, which might serve as an example for other companies.
Recently, companies like Amazon, Starbucks, and others have already announced that extended health insurance will cover employees’ travel costs if they need to get an abortion but cannot get one close to where they reside.
Furthermore, Biden is ordering the Department of Health and Human Services to promote medication abortion, emergency contraception, and IUD access.
To provide the public with accurate information on access to reproductive health care services, including abortion, the agency is directed to strengthen outreach and public education efforts.
Bidens order will address issues related to patient privacy, combats digital surveillance on reproductive health care services, and protects people from fraud & deception.
Several Democratic governors have asked Biden to allow abortion services on federal land and facilities.
“What am I talking about? Veterans hospitals, military bases, and other places where the federal government controls the jurisdiction in some of the states that are hostile to women’s rights, and make sure that those services can be available to other women,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul suggested.
The White House raised doubts about the proposal and warned that it may have “dangerous ramifications.”
The Democratic governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, recommended that the government make it clear that Americans can lawfully transport the abortion pill across the U.S.-Canadian border last week. Still, this suggestion was left out of Biden’s action.
The “fastest way to restore” rights, said Biden, is for Congress to incorporate Roe into law. But since they would require 10 Republican votes in the Senate, any attempt by Democrats would probably fail.
Biden proposed a filibuster carveout to incorporate abortion rights into federal law, but Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, two Democratic senators, are reluctant to alter the old Senate rule.
To elect more pro-choice Democrats in November, the president urged women to vote.
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