According to a White House statement, United States President Joe Biden is set to sign an executive order on Friday, 8 July to safeguard women’s access to abortion and contraception following the US Supreme Court’s recent ruling which overturned Roe vs Wade, a landmark case which had legalised abortion.
Biden has directed the US secretary of health and human services (HHS) to “protect and expand access to abortion care, including access to medication that the FDA approved as safe and effective over twenty years ago,” the White House statement said.
He further directed the HHS department to ensure that women have access to emergency medical care, family planning services, and long-acting reversible contraception like intrauterine devices (IUDs).
The attorney general and the White House counsel will also convene private pro bono attorneys and public interest organisations to provide legal representation for abortion seekers and providers.
'Administration Will Ensure Safety of Patients'
“The Administration will ensure the safety of patients, providers, and third parties, and to protect the security of other entities that are providing, dispensing, or delivering reproductive health care services,” the statement read.
“Such representation could include protecting the right to travel out of state to seek medical care," it further said.
"Immediately following the Supreme Court decision, the President announced his Administration’s position that Americans must remain free to travel safely to another state to seek the care they need, and his commitment to fighting any attack by a state or local official who attempts to interfere with women exercising this right."White House statement
The US Supreme Court’s ruling, which restored a state’s ability to ban abortion, leaves women seeking abortions in the country with limited choices. They can either travel to another state where the procedure is legal and accessible, buy abortion pills, or undergo a dangerous illegal abortion.
The executive order will also be aimed at protecting a patient’s privacy and to ensure safety of mobile abortions at state borders. It will further direct the establishment of a task force to coordinate the Biden administration’s response on access to reproductive health care, the White House said.
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