📝 Mitigating the Ban
📝 Mitigating the Ban
As the country continues to reconcile with the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade last month, pressure has mounted on President Biden to use his executive powers to help protect vulnerable women. On Friday, the President did just that and signed an executive order helping to protect reproductive rights around the country, however, the details remain vague.
Among the actions taken in the EO, the President ordered that “HHS will take additional action to protect and expand access to abortion care, including access to medication that the FDA approved as safe and effective over twenty years ago,” suggesting that medication abortions will remain for women under Medicare who live in states that now ban abortions.
Still, the EO leaves most details to be worked out by Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services, who has stated that neither he nor the administration has a “magic bullet” to restore abortion access nationwide, reports the New York Times.
Biden did urge the public to vote in November as the most direct way to combat the overturning of Roe v. Wade. “For God’s sake, there’s an election in November. Vote. Vote. Vote. Vote,” he said.
Warren's Plan
Though the Biden administration claims it has little power at this moment, others, like Senator Elizabeth Warren, are calling on Biden to step up. “There is much we can do at the federal level administratively, under current law,” the Democrat said, reports MSN. Specifically, Warren urged the White House to “explore just how much we can start using federal lands as a way to protect people who need access to abortions in all the states that either have banned abortions or are clearly on the threshold of doing so.” This action has been suggested by other Democratic leaders including Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The Verdict
It’s true that the Biden Administration really has its hands tied with how much it can do to mitigate the overturning of Roe. That said, Becerra will be the one to suss out the details of the administration’s actions over the weeks and months to come.