WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden plans to make remarks from the White House on Friday on the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that guaranteed a constitutional right to an abortion.
The president is scheduled to speak at 12:30 p.m. ET.
The White House has been preparing for the ruling, and is poised to release a range of federal actions aimed at easing access to abortion. In anticipation of the decision, Biden directed his Gender Policy Council, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice to see what actions could be taken to help women, particularly those with lower incomes, maintain access to abortion services.
May 4, 202201:59
The ruling is the second blow from the Supreme Court in two days for a major Democratic domestic policy priority. On Thursday, the Court struck down a New York law that required those seeking a permit to carry a concealed handgun in public to demonstrate they had special need to do so.
Biden is scheduled to head overseas Saturday for a week of meetings with world leaders in Europe focused on Ukraine, the global economy and China. But the domestic turmoil back home could overshadow some of his intended message from that trip.
There are limited actions Biden can take at the federal level on abortion, and codifying a women’s right to an abortion would have to be done by Congress. Still, Democrats have been urging him to take a range of steps that could provide some level of support to women.
Abortion rights supporters have been pressing the administration to expand access to medical abortions, which account for half of all abortions in the U.S. and require a prescription from a health care provider. The pills have also been available by mail since April 2021, when the FDA suspended enforcement of a requirement that the first pill be administered in person. It is unclear whether states looking to restrict abortions could legally or logistically stop residents from getting the pills by mail.
The federal government could also provide resources for women to travel to states with less restrictions to access abortion care, such as travel vouchers and child care services and paid time off for federal workers who have to travel to get abortion care.
In addition, the federal government could make changes related to data collected through websites and mobile applications.
The decision comes at a crucial moment for Biden and Democrats, who are hoping to use the ruling to energize their base to turn out in the midterm elections in November. But the issue risks being overshadowed politically by broader worries over the economy, which voters have listed as their top concern.
Biden described the draft opinion released last month that indicated the Supreme Court would overturn Roe as “radical” and said it could jeopardize other rights, including the right to use contraception and same-sex marriage.
Biden said then that a final version of the draft opinion could produce a fundamental shift in the law that could jeopardize other rulings based on the right to privacy.
“It goes far beyond the concern of a right to choose. It goes to other basic rights, the right to marriage, the right to determine a whole range of things,” he said.
Ultimately, Biden said it would be up to members of Congress to act to guarantee national access to abortion.
“It will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November,” Biden said then. “At the federal level, we will need more pro-choice senators and a pro-choice majority in the House to adopt legislation that codifies Roe, which I will work to pass and sign into law.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
