Biden unveils new measures to protect access to abortion


WASHINGTON — President Biden on Tuesday unveiled new measures to protect access to abortion, 100 days after the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy, and called on Americans to pressure the Congress to pass legislation guaranteeing the legality of abortion in the United States. .

The actions came as reproductive rights have become a central issue in political campaigns across the country ahead of next month’s midterm elections. Democrats seized the court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade to motivate voters to elect lawmakers who will expand abortion rights nationwide and stop Republicans from imposing new restrictions.

“Right now we’re a handful of votes short,” Biden said as he convened his White House reproductive health task force. “The only way for this to happen is if the American people make it happen.”

Mr Biden attacked Republican lawmakers who pushed for a national abortion ban and urged voters to remember what was at stake if Democrats lost control of power in Washington.

“It means that even if you live in a state where hardline Republican officials aren’t running the show, your right to choose will still be in jeopardy,” Biden said.

Most abortions are now banned in at least 14 states, and others are embroiled in legal battles over abortion access. Biden administration officials estimate that nearly 30 million women of childbearing age now live in a banned state and that about 22 million women cannot access abortion care after six weeks.

The White House said Tuesday that the Department of Education will remind universities that they cannot discriminate against female students on the basis of pregnancy, including if a pregnancy has been terminated.


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Additionally, the Department of Health and Human Services announces $6 million in grants to expand access to family planning clinics that receive federal Title X funding. The White House has asked Congress for an additional $400 million for clinics.

The White House believes that public sentiment is on its side when it comes to abortion.

A Pew Research Center survey this summer showed that 61% of Americans think abortion should be legal in most cases, although the political divide on these issues has become sharper.

In tight races across the country, Democrats are magnifying the problem. The House Democrats’ super PAC is investing heavily in ads focused on reproductive rights, including one that dramatizes the consequences of a nationwide ban on abortion. It features police handcuffing doctors, nurses and patients who have sought or provided “lawful health care services for almost 50 years”.

Some Republicans have attempted to downplay abortion in favor of a focus on crime and inflation. However, the issue resurfaced last month when Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, introduced legislation that would institute a federal ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Minority Leader, said he doesn’t expect Republicans to try to enact a nationwide ban on abortion.

The Biden administration has been criticized for not doing more to protect women’s abortion rights after the court ruling this year. Despite calls from some activists to declare a public health emergency to expand access to abortion, White House officials are skeptical of what such a move would accomplish and are wary of inviting new legal fights.

In a note preceding the announcement, Jennifer Klein, director of the White House Gender Policy Council, outlined some of the steps the Biden administration has taken to preserve access to abortion. She pointed to executive orders upholding the right to cross state lines for an abortion and guidance to ensure doctors can perform abortions in cases where patients “have an emergency medical condition” and need to be stabilized.

But White House officials have acknowledged there is little they can do to protect abortion access without Congress and make reproductive rights a moral issue.

“I certainly believe that a woman should have the freedom to make decisions about her own body and that her government should not make those decisions for her,” Vice President Kamala Harris said at the task force meeting. . “Today, so-called extremist leaders are attacking the liberty and liberty of millions of women at the state level.”