Two weeks after the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, President Joe Biden signed an executive order Friday aimed at protecting access to abortion.
U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) and Senate candidate Katie Boyd Britt (R) responded critically to Biden’s latest effort to rule by executive order – which he has done on energy policy, COVID vaccination mandates, unionization, and border and immigration policy among other things.
Britt called it “sadly typical” of the Biden presidency.
“This is sadly typical of the Biden Administration — they routinely resort to blatant overreach and recklessly growing the size of unaccountable government bureaucracy because they can’t force their radical agenda through Congress,” Britt said. “The Supreme Court was clear — the States have the right to protect life, and that’s exactly what Alabama is going to do. In the U.S. Senate, I will fight back against Joe Biden’s continual overreach and protect the God-given right to life.”
Tuberville said that the President lacked “boundaries.”
“Today’s executive order sends a clear message: when it comes to pushing his progressive agenda, Pres. Biden knows no boundaries,” Tuberville said on social media.
The action comes as the President faces pressure from Democrats who are demanding that the White House take more direct action.
The Biden order directs Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra to submit a report within 30 days on additional action the agency can take to protect and expand access to contraceptives and abortions, including an abortion pill approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the White House said.
The executive order also calls on HHS to launch a public-education campaign on access to reproductive health services and to bring together pro bono lawyers and public-interest organizations to represent patients and abortion providers on issues such as helping women travel out of state to get an abortion.
White House aides have cautioned for weeks that although they would be taking some steps, no policies from the executive branch could fill the void left by the court’s decision. This executive order reflects those limitations.
1819 News reached out to Kaitlin Connors who is the Southeastern Coordinator for the pro-Life Susan B. Anthony List Pro-Life America. She referred us to the group’s national statement.
“Long gone is the Democratic Party of ‘safe, legal, and rare.’ President Biden has once again caved to the extreme abortion lobby, determined to put the full weight of the federal government behind promoting abortion,” said SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “Democrats will stop at nothing to promote their agenda of abortion on demand, up until the moment of birth, paid for by the taxpayers – including dangerous mail-order abortion drugs — even if it means gutting the long-standing filibuster, increasing the size of the Supreme Court, or putting abortionists in tents in national parks. We are committed to exposing Democrats’ abortion extremism to voters across key battleground states so this extreme agenda can be soundly rejected at the ballot box this November.”
Biden claimed that state laws limiting access to abortion services would negatively impact women’s health.
“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,” President Biden said. “Access to reproductive healthcare services is now threatened for millions of Americans, and especially for those who live in states that are banning or severely restricting abortion care. Women’s health clinics are being forced to close — including clinics that offer other preventive healthcare services such as contraception — leaving many communities without access to critical reproductive healthcare services. Women seeking abortion care — especially those in low-income, rural, and other underserved communities — now have to travel to jurisdictions where services remain legal notwithstanding the cost or risks.
“In the face of this health crisis, the Federal Government is taking action to protect healthcare service delivery and promote access to critical reproductive healthcare services, including abortion. 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.”
The executive order does not go as far as some Democrats wanted. New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has called for federal veterans’ hospitals, military bases and other facilities that the federal government controls to provide abortions even in states like Alabama that have outlawed the procedure. Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has recommended that the administration rule that abortion pills can be legally transported across the U.S.-Canadian border.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Friday the lower chamber will vote next week to pass a bill that will give women across the nation the right to an abortion. The House passed this legislation last September, but it failed in the Senate in May.
Any effort by Democrats to make Roe federal law would likely stall in the Senate, where they would need 10 Republican votes.
The people of Alabama voted overwhelmingly in 2018 to ratify a constitutional amendment outlawing abortion in the state when Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America pointed to a new poll conducted by Harris and Harvard University after the Dobbs v. Jackson decision found that 72% of voters support a limit on abortions after 15 weeks — the exact issue at stake in Dobbs — while 49% support a limit after six weeks. Only 10% of poll respondents supported the Democrats’ position of abortion on demand until birth.
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandon.moseley@1819News.com.
Don’t miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
