President Joe Biden on Tuesday highlighted his administration’s efforts to protect access to abortion as he marks 100 days since the Supreme Court overturned a national right to the procedure and Democrats hope the issue will galvanize their voters ahead of the midterm elections.
What You Need To Know
- President Joe Biden is highlighting his administration’s efforts to protect access to abortion
- He marked 100 days since the Supreme Court overturned a national right to the procedure, attending the second meeting of the Cabinet-level task force he stood up to coordinate the government’s response to the ruling
- Biden announced that the Education Department is sending guidance to universities reminding them that federal law requires that they “protect their students from discrimination on the basis of pregnancy”
- The Department of Health and Human Services will also release $6 million in new funding grants for research on family planning services
Biden attended the second meeting of the Cabinet-level task force he stood up to coordinate the government’s response to the ruling, announcing two new steps to protect access to reproductive health care.
Still, Biden reminded Americans that only Congress can restore access to abortion nationally, which forms a central argument of Biden’s pitch to voters frustrated by the Supreme Court ruling to send Democrats to Washington.
“The only way it’s going to happen is if the American people make it happen,” he said Tuesday.
He added his concern that the court would go beyond abortion rights and strip access to things like contraception as well, noting Justice Clarence Thomas’ written opinion when the court handed down the Dobbs decision this summer.
“My lord, we’re talking about contraception here. It shouldn’t be that controversial,” he said. “But this is what it looks like when you start to take away the right of privacy.”
Biden announced that the Education Department is sending guidance to universities reminding them that federal law requires that they “protect their students from discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, including pregnancy termination.”
“If you’re commited to student success, you must be commited to student health,” said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.
The Department of Health and Human Services will also release $6 million in new funding grants for research on family planning services, including teen pregnancy prevention.
The task force heard from doctors in states where abortion is severely restricted, including one from Wisconsin, Dr. Kristin Lylerly, who described her thought process when providing an abortion to a woman whose pregnancy threatens her health: “Can I count on the [district attorney] to trust my clinical judgement? Looking back, would we agree that I met the criteria that my patient was sick enough?”
“What we are seeing in laws around our country is the criminalization of doctors and health care providers,” said vice president Kamala Harris, who opened the meeting.
In conjunction with the gathering, Jennifer Klein, the director of the White House’s Gender Policy Council and the leader of the White House task force, issued a new memo to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris outlining the effects of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to ban abortion.
“Close to 30 million women of reproductive age now live in a state with a ban — including nearly 22 million women who cannot access abortion care after six weeks, before most women know they are pregnant,” she wrote.
“Extreme abortion bans are having consequences that extend beyond abortion, including reports of women being denied access to necessary prescriptions and contraception at pharmacies and on college campuses.”
Biden gave a message to people across the country “who are worried about what we’re seeing”: “First, that we have your back. We’re not going to step back from this. And second, we’ve heard your voices.”
