President Joe Biden said Sunday he was considering declaring a public health emergency in support of nationwide access to abortion after Roe v. Wade was canceled last month.
“This is something I ask administration doctors to look at, if I have the authority to do so and what impact it would have,” Biden told reporters in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, while asking questions quickly during a walk in bicycle. near his house.
An abortion-related public health emergency has had the support of members of Biden’s own party, as well as abortion rights advocates.
The Women’s March, which helped organize a “summer of rage” in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to fire Roe – which was widely praised by conservatives – has argued that such a measure would allow the administration. ” use additional flexibilities, deploy resources when needed, and act with the urgency that this moment requires. “
Broadly speaking, there is a public health emergency in cases of disease outbreaks or other health crises and unlocks certain powers and sources of government funding.
Biden told reporters Sunday that he acknowledged he had limited executive powers to support access to abortion, and said, “I don’t have the authority” to restore Roe. He reiterated that he wanted Congress to pass a federal law codifying Roe after the Supreme Court reversed the historic 1973 ruling and said there was no constitutional guarantee for an abortion.
As for his message to the thousands of people who gathered in front of the White House on Saturday, urging him to do more to protect abortion rights, he said, “Keep protesting. Keep protesting your point. It’s very important”.
“We can do a lot to accommodate women’s rights. In the meantime, fundamentally, the only way to change that is to have a national law that restores Roe v. Wade,” she said.
President Joe Biden talks to members of the media while cycling at Gordons Pond State Park in Rehoboth Beach, Del., July 10, 2022.
Andrew Harnik / AP
The outlook for this is weak in the narrowly divided Senate, where Democrats do not have enough votes to overcome Republican obstruction on the issue or pass an exception to the obstruction rule, which moderates oppose Joe Manchin. and Kyrsten Sinema.
Biden signed an executive order on Friday to support access to abortion despite efforts by dozens of states to ban or severely restrict it.
Speaking from the White House alongside Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, Biden urged women, specifically, to exercise their “political power” by voting in November, saying it was the ” faster way “to reverse the high court’s decision. ruling giving the Democrats in Congress the majorities they need to codify Roe.
In the weeks since a five-court majority in court rejected Roe, who has long been a target of Republicans and Conservatives opposed to abortion, Biden has faced criticism from other Democrats. and progressives who say they should act more aggressively.
“I want President Biden to do absolutely everything in his power to protect access to abortion in the United States; we are really pushing the envelope to protect women in this country and let’s do it now,” the senator said. of Washington Patty Murray, who chairs the Senate Committee. on Health and Work Education, he told ABC News in a written statement last month, adding that he understood there were limits to his authority.
Biden’s executive order largely ended what his administration had already announced, including instructions to the Justice Department to make sure women can travel out of state to receive abortion care.
Activists put bras on the fence of the White House during a protest following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe’s historic abortion decision against Wade in Washington on July 9, 2022 .
Michael McCoy / Reuters
The order addressed high risks for patients, providers and clinics focusing on protecting mobile clinics that have been deployed at state borders to provide care to out-of-state patients.
Biden’s action, the White House said, also led Attorney General Merrick Garland and the White House attorney to convene attorneys and volunteer organizations to “foster strong legal representation of patients, providers, and third parties seeking or they legally offer reproductive health care services nationwide. ” . “
Biden has said he will offer permission to federal workers traveling to receive medical care, which could be an example for private companies to do the same.
Anne Flaherty of ABC News contributed to this report.