United States President Joe Biden is responding to criticism of his inaction on the abortion crisis with an executive order he plans to sign this Friday that, according to a White House statement, “is intended to “secure access to reproductive health services, including abortion.” and prevention, and protecting the privacy and safety of patients and clinics.”
The executive order comes just two weeks after the Supreme Court ruled in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, overturning a half-century precedent set by another Supreme Court ruling, Roe v. Wade, granting constitutional status in 1973 protection of abortion. The decision restores the power to states to legislate on women’s freedom to terminate pregnancy, which was previously guaranteed at the federal level. Twenty-six of the 50 states plan to seriously limit or ban access to abortion.
Biden’s actions are aimed at countering these state laws while achieving an elusive goal: getting a bill through Congress that would overturn the Roe v. Wade codified. That won’t be easy: To achieve this, the Democratic Party, which has 50 of the 100 seats in the Senate, would have to add 60 supports due to the filibustering rule, which requires qualified majorities for sweeping reforms. The President has already warned that he stands ready to push what Washington dubs the “nuclear button,” which would allow him to approve a federal regulation with a simple majority.
“Fundamental rights — to privacy, autonomy, liberty and equality — have been denied to millions of women across the country,” the White House statement said. “It has serious implications for your health, your life and your well-being. This judgment will disproportionately affect women of color, low-income women and those living in rural areas.”
According to the document released by the White House early Friday, the President has directed Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra to protect access to abortion pills, which anti-abortion groups have envisioned as the next target their war, trying to continue its distribution; 54% of abortions performed in the United States in 2020 were performed with drugs. Becerra is also responsible for “providing emergency medical care to pregnant women and women who are experiencing a miscarriage,” launching an awareness campaign, organizing patient defenses who need them with a network of attorneys working on a volunteer basis, and guaranteeing access to contraceptives.
The Supreme Court ruling bases its argument that abortion is not guaranteed under the US Constitution and that the Roe v. Wade’s ruling was “enormously wrong from the start” because it invoked protections for abortion to apply the Fourteenth Amendment in the part protecting the privacy of individuals. Other rulings guaranteeing contraceptive use, homosexual marriages and same-sex relationships are based on the same provision, rights now in the hands of the most conservatively composed court in the United States in eight decades. .
The order, now signed by Biden, which stops at the security of “mobile clinics” that provide reproductive health services, also provides for the protection of patients’ privacy and their access to accurate information and the confidentiality of their data. To that end, a guide will be released, making it clear to physicians that “with limited exceptions, they have no obligation, and in many cases do not have the right, to disclose patients’ private information, including to law enforcement authorities,” Dr said of the White House text.