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Two weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, President Joe Biden plans to sign an executive order on abortion access on Friday, three sources familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
The White House said Biden would speak Friday morning “to protect access to reproductive health services.” It is expected to outline actions to try to mitigate some potential penalties that women who seek abortions may face after the ruling, but are limited in their ability to protect access to abortion across the country.
President Joe Biden speaks before presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 17 people at the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 7, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Biden is expected to instruct the Justice and Health and Human Services departments to oppose any state efforts to limit a woman’s ability to cross state lines for a legal abortion or obtain federally approved abortion medication, according to the AP report.
In a further effort to protect women seeking abortions, Biden’s executive order would also direct agencies to work to educate medical providers and insurers about how and when they are required to share privileged patient information with authorities. It will also ask the Federal Trade Commission to take steps to protect the privacy of those seeking reproductive care information online.
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Pro-choice supporters gather outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, June 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
The White House said Vice President Kamala Harris will attend the president’s remarks Friday morning before meeting with state legislative leaders from Indiana, Florida, South Dakota, Nebraska and Montana who are “fighting on the front lines to protect reproductive rights “.
Many on the left have criticized the president for not doing more since the Court threw out Roe v. Wade — which effectively ended the constitutional right to abortion and gave individual states the power to allow, limit or ban the practice altogether.
Biden, for his part, stressed that his ability to protect access to abortion in states where authorities plan to restrict or ban it is limited and emphasized that Congress has the ability to codify abortion rights.
“Ultimately, Congress will have to act to codify Roe into federal law,” he said a week ago, but the Senate likely won’t have enough votes. He also reminded pro-choice voters to go to the polls in November.
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“If extremist governors try to block a woman from traveling from a state that prevents her from seeking the medical care she needs to a state that provides that care, we will act to protect her basic rights,” Biden wrote in Twitter on Thursday, adding hours later, “If states try to block a woman from getting drugs that the FDA has already approved and that have been available for over twenty years, we will act to protect that woman’s right to medicine.’
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Biden also said Wednesday that the filibuster should not stand in the way of codifying Roe. “But right now we don’t have the votes to change a filibuster.” That means we have to elect more Democratic senators and re-elect the House majority in November to get this bill to my desk.”
Pro-lifers and their children in the foreground sing religious songs as pro-choice supporters wave their signs and shout to be heard over the chanting as they all stand outside the Jackson Women’s Health Organization clinic in Jackson, Miss., Thursday, July 7, 2022 (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
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On Tuesday, he tweeted: “Personal liberties are on the ballot” this November, but until then his administration will “do everything in our power to ensure that women have access to the medicines they need and that they have the freedom to travel , to seek the care they need.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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