President Joe Biden will sign an executive order aimed in part at making it easier for women seeking abortions to travel between states to obtain access to the procedure.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden will sign an executive order that, among other things, will make it simpler for women seeking abortions to travel between states to undergo the procedure.
More specifically, one of the orders Biden will make will allow states that have not outlawed abortion to apply for specific Medicaid waivers that would essentially help them treat women who have traveled from other states, according to U.S News.
Along with mandating compliance with federal pro rules from healthcare providers, the directive would also streamline how important data and information on maternal health are gathered by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Senior administration officials who spoke under the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the executive order before a formal release described the specifics.
According to the authorities, Biden will sign the executive order while he aids in the formation of a federal task group on access to reproductive care, which will be headed by Vice President Kamala Harris while he remains quarantined in the White House residence due to a COVID-19 rebound case.
The new order, however, falls short of the demands made of the Biden administration by numerous Democratic lawmakers and pro-abortion organizations ever since the Supreme Court overturned the seminal Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. One of the main demands has been for Biden to issue an emergency public health declaration on abortion, which according to White House officials would not significantly free up government resources or activate new legal authority.
The Biden administration has taken a number of administrative actions since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in June, the most recent of which being the order issued on Wednesday.
In a separate lawsuit filed on Tuesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said that Idaho’s law criminalizing abortions violates federal law.
