US president is under pressure to safeguard abortion rights after Supreme Court overturned landmark Roe v Wade ruling.
US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order that his administration says will help secure access to abortion and reproductive health services in the United States, two weeks after the country’s top court overturned the constitutional right to the procedure nationwide.
Biden has faced mounting pressure, including from within his own Democratic Party, to take action to defend abortion rights following the overturning of the Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision on June 24.
The executive action on Friday directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to protect and expand access to abortion services, including by defending out-of-state travel and federally approved medication, according to a White House fact sheet.
It also directs agencies to work to educate medical providers and insurers about how and when they are required to share privileged patient information with authorities — an effort to protect women who seek or use abortion services.
He also directed HHS to ensure women have access to emergency medical care, family planning services, and contraception, including intrauterine devices (IUDs).
“I’m asking the Justice Department that, much like they did in the civil rights era, to do … everything in their power to protect these women seeking to invoke their rights,” Biden told reporters during a news conference on Friday.
“In states where clinics are still open, to protect them from intimidation; to protect the right of women to travel from [a] state that prohibits [her from] seeking the medical attention that she needs to a state to provide that care.”
The White House said Biden also asked Federal Trade Commission to take steps to protect the privacy of those seeking information about reproductive care online and establish an interagency task force to coordinate federal efforts to safeguard access to abortion.
It said it will also convene volunteer lawyers to provide women and providers with pro bono legal assistance to help them navigate new state restrictions after the Supreme Court ruling.
“Now the most extreme Republican governors and state legislatures have taken the court’s decision as a greenlight to impose some of the harshest and most restrictive laws seen in this country in a long time,” Biden said on Friday.
