Criticizing the Supreme Court's abortion decision as driven by politics, President Biden on Friday signed an executive order that establishes an abortion task force and protects the right to travel out of state to get an abortion.
The executive order also safeguards pharmacies and other medical professionals who dispense "reproductive and related healthcare services."
"What we're witnessing wasn't a constitutional judgment," Biden said in a White House ceremony before signing the order. "It was an exercise in raw political power."
Biden urged pro-choice voters to rally together and support Democrats this fall. The "fastest way to restore Roe," he said, "is to pass a national law codifying Roe."
"The only way to fulfill and restore that right for women in this country is by voting – by exercising the power at the ballot box," Biden said. "... We need two additional pro-choice senators and a pro-choice House to codify Roe as federal law. Your vote can make that a reality."
The executive order:
Establishes an "Interagency Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access" that will "work to identify and coordinate activities to protect and strengthen access to essential reproductive healthcare services," the language in the order reads. The task force also will "address barriers that individuals and entities may face in seeking and providing reproductive healthcare services."
Requires the attorney general to provide assistance to states that are providing "legal protection to out-of-State patients and providers" of abortion.
Ensures the "security of clinics (including mobile clinics), pharmacies, and other entities providing, dispensing, or delivering reproductive and related healthcare services."
"Eliminating the right recognized in Roe has already had and will continue to have devastating implications for women's health and public health more broadly," the order says. "... It remains the policy of my Administration to support women's right to choose and to protect and defend reproductive rights. Doing so is essential to justice, equality, and our health, safety, and progress as a Nation."
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Alex Wong/Staff
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
