Biden signs executive order to protect access to abortion and contraceptives

US President Joe Biden signed an executive order Friday to help safeguard women’s access to abortion and contraception in every state, after the Supreme Court last month overturned the Roe v Wade decision that legalized abortion.

The president appeared live to make the announcement at noon, where he said the majority on the Supreme Court “is invoking 19th century law” by overturning Roe v. Wade.

Biden said the executive order seeks to shield women from possible retaliation in some states, and that the court’s decision “is not going to protect women’s rights.”

The president faces the fierce opposition of the conservative majority in the Supreme Court, however he is appealing for a law to be approved in Congress.

“The best way to act faster is to legislate and enact a bill,” he said, promising to pass it urgently.

The executive order asks the Department of Justice to protect the right of women to travel to other states to receive health services.

President Biden stated: “The Court and its allies are determined to put the country in reverse gear.”

In a strong electoral spirit, the Democratic president exhorted the Americans: “The challenge for the nation is to vote: Vote, vote, vote, in reference to the mid-term elections next November.

Biden, a Democrat, has been under pressure from supporters, particularly progressives, to take action after the landmark decision, which upended roughly 50 years of protecting women’s reproductive rights.

protect privacy

The executive order protects patients’ privacy and access to their information, the president said, adding that currently by using a search engine or mobile app, “companies collect your data, sell it to others, or they even share it with the police.”

After the decision of the Supreme Court, the White House keeps on the table the possibility of declaring a health emergency focused on protecting women in need of abortion.

“We’re really looking at everything, it’s definitely not out of the question,” White House gender policy council chair Jennifer Klein told reporters later on Friday.

Preparations

The presidential order directs the Department of Health and Human Services to take steps to protect and expand access to “medical abortion” approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the White House said.

It also gives department directives that ensure women have access to emergency medical care, family planning services, and contraception, including intrauterine devices (IUDs).

Biden’s attorney general and White House counsel will convene pro bono attorneys and other organizations to provide legal advice to patients seeking an abortion, as well as abortion providers.

“Such representation could include protection of the right to travel out of state to seek medical care,” the White House said in a statement.

The Supreme Court ruling restored the ability of states to ban abortion. As a result, women with unwanted pregnancies face the choice of traveling to another state where the procedure is still legal and available, buying abortion pills online, or having a potentially dangerous illegal abortion.

Biden has condemned the court ruling.

The issue may help get Democrats to the polls in November’s midterm elections, when Republicans have a chance to take control of Congress. Democrats hold a slim majority in the House of Representatives and control the evenly split Senate through Vice President Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking vote.

Biden’s executive order on Friday also aims to protect patient privacy and ensure the safety of mobile abortion clinics at state lines, and directs the establishment of a task force to coordinate the administration’s response on the access to reproductive health care, the White House said.

[Con información de Reuters]

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