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Here's what Biden can do to help Americans retain abortion access now that Roe v. Wade is overturned, advocates say
Here's what Biden can do to help Americans retain abortion access now that Roe v. Wade is overturned, advocates say
Katie BalevicJun 29, 2022, 08:11 IST
US President Joe Biden attends the first day of the G7 leaders' summit, at Bavaria's Schloss Elmau castle, in Kruen, Germany, Sunday, June 26, 2022.Lukas Barth/Pool Photo via AP
The Supreme Court ended the federal right to an abortion by overturning Roe v. Wade last week.
President Joe Biden condemned the decision, calling on Congress to act and citizens to vote.
On Friday, Biden said the Court's decision would "literally take America back 150 years" and that his administration will aggressively defend Americans' rights to receive abortion pills through the mail or to travel across state lines to receive care.
The president called on Congress to act, despite Democrats' failures to codify abortion rights into federal law. He also called on Americans to vote in the midterms in November.
"Let me be very clear and unambiguous: The only way we can secure a women's right to choose, the balance that existed, is for Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade as federal law," he said. "No executive action from the president can do that."
While Biden has said his "administration will use all of its appropriate lawful powers" to help Americans retain access to abortion, lawmakers and advocates have called on the president to implement the following measures since Roe was overturned.
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Expand the Supreme Court
Activists For Expanding The Supreme Court Rally Outside the Supreme Court on June 22, 2022 in Washington, DC.Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Demand Justice
Declare a 'public health and national emergency'
Activists march along Constitution Avenue to the US Supreme Court on May 14, 2022.Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post via Getty Images
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Establish abortion clinics on federal land
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joins abortion-rights activists as they demonstrate following Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in Washington on June 24, 2022.Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Offer federal support or grants for those traveling out of state for abortion care
Abortion access is a confusing patchwork across the US, with each state in charge of its own rules.
Experts have pointed out that many Americans will be forced to travel across state lines to access abortions. States like Illinois — which share borders with states that immediately implemented bans on abortion after the Supreme Court ruling — are bracing for an influx of people to cross their state lines.
Biden said he intends to fight to protect an individual's right to travel across state lines to get abortion care, but he hasn't gone as far as offering federal support to people who have to travel.
"If any state or local official, high or low, tries to interfere with a woman's exercising her basic right to travel, I will do everything in my power to fight that deeply un-American attack," Biden said last Friday in his address following the ruling.
Lisa Gilbert, executive vice president of the non-profit Public Citizen, told Insider that the Biden administration could establish grants for people who need to travel to get abortion care.
"State by state there will be different requirements and limitations, so the cost of traveling to a place where you can get this care is part of the issue," Gilbert told Insider. "So figuring out ways to assist, providing grants or other mechanisms for funding to reach women who need to travel would be a thing for them to consider."
Any actions the administration takes would again have to be in compliance with the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal funds for abortion care.
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Provide easier access to abortion medication
Boxes of the drug mifepristone line a shelf at the West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Wednesday, March 16, 2022.Allen G. Breed, File/AP
Help people understand abortion laws state by state as well as their right
Gilbert said one of the biggest ways the Biden administration can help is "just helping people understand abortion law."
"This sort of patchwork that I was describing is going to be a huge problem. It's state-by-state, and it's going to be evolving very regularly, we would imagine," Gilbert said. "So making sure that the administration is being helpful on that front."
While laws on abortion access vary state by state, conservative states like Texas and Oklahoma have enacted vigilante abortion laws that encourage citizens to report those who they think have assisted in providing an abortion.
On Saturday, one day after the Supreme Court's ruling, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a guide to help people "know your rights" on reproductive care.
"People can find the info from the federal government. They've set up a website already, and so just making sure that that's updated and that people know about it and that they can get the information that they need," Gilbert said.