How Biden’s executive order could ensure abortion access

Judy Woodruff:

As we reported earlier, President Biden issued an executive order today to safeguard access to abortion and contraception, a move that comes amid heightened pressure on the White House since the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade.

To understand what the president's order does and does not do, I'm joined now by our White House correspondent, Laura Barrón-López.

So, hello, Laura.

I know you have been reporting on this for a number of days now. But looking at this executive order, tell us first what it does.

Laura Barrón-López:

So, the executive order that the president signed today actually formalize the steps that he directed his agencies to take immediately after the Supreme Court decision.

And so this executive order on abortion rights, what it does is, it works to protect medication abortion and contraception access, encourages free legal representation for doctors and patients, protects interstate travel for abortions, and ensures privacy for health data.

Now, a lot of this is simply telling departments like the Health and Human Services Department to put together a plan. They have 30 days to do that. These aren't necessarily things that are new in terms of expanding abortion access. It's a lot about enforcing current law.

Judy Woodruff:

So, we know that the president has been under a lot of pressure in recent days from advocacy groups, from Democrats urging him to do more, to do more.

Tell us, what were the political considerations here as he worked his way through this.

Laura Barrón-López:

As you said, he has been facing immense pressure from within his party.

And so one of the things politically that the president is trying to do is to draw this contrast. In his speech today, we heard him say over and over, reminding people to go vote, that, ultimately, these executive actions are not going to reverse the Supreme Court decision,and so that it is all about the November election.

And he did talk about the fact that Republicans, if they gained power, could potentially issue a national ban. That's something that we have heard from a few Republicans across the states, and trying to also draw attention to what different red-leaning states are doing, because he is hoping, as well as his entire White House is hoping, that, ultimately, that could help Democrats come November.

Judy Woodruff:

So it's only been a couple of weeks since the Supreme Court issued — two weeks exactly since the court issued this.

Laura, is it your reporting that we're going to see more from the president, from the administration on this?

Laura Barrón-López:

So, a lot of what Democrats have been asking President Biden for was not included in this executive action. Their biggest wish list items were not in this.

The White House said today — Jennifer Klein of the Gender Policy Council, one of the president's co-chairs, said that they haven't ruled out a public health emergency declaration, although they are very skeptical about the actual impact it would have and the resources and the funds there.

They also so far have not ruled out the idea of using Medicaid to fund travel for abortions. So we are going to keep a lookout to see whether or not those bigger asks on executive actions come down.

Judy Woodruff:

So this is maybe just the beginning. We will see.

Laura Barrón-López:

Yes.

Judy Woodruff:

Laura Barrón-López, thank you.

Laura Barrón-López:

Thank you.