Biden signs executive order on emergency abortion access
The order clarifies that women can travel to get an abortion in states where it is allowed.
Photo: Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images
The day after the federal government filed a lawsuit against Idaho for its almost absolute ban on abortion that would make it a criminal offense for physicians to perform emergency care, President Joe Biden issued an executive order protecting access.
Biden on Wednesday signed the Executive Order on Security Access to Reproductive and Other Healthcare Services.
The order clarifies that women can travel out-of-state to get an abortion in states where it is legal and tells providers to comply with federal law, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, so women are able to get services.
Restrictions in states such as Idaho have created legal uncertainty for hospitals and pharmacies.
"However, the continued advancement of restrictive abortion laws in states across the country has created legal uncertainty and disparate access to reproductive healthcare services depending on where a person lives, putting patients, providers, and third parties at risk and fueling confusion for hospitals and healthcare providers, including pharmacies," Biden said in the order.
"There have been numerous reports of women denied health- and life-saving emergency care, as providers fearful of legal reprisal delay necessary treatment for patients until their conditions worsen to dangerous levels. There are also reports of women of reproductive age being denied prescription medication at pharmacies -- including medication that is used to treat stomach ulcers, lupus, arthritis, and cancer – due to concerns that these medications, some of which can be used in medication abortions, could be used to terminate a pregnancy," the order said.
The order also advances research and data collection, instructing the secretary of Health and Human Services to evaluate the adequacy of research, data collection, and data analysis and interpretation efforts at the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other relevant HHS components in accurately measuring the effect of access to reproductive healthcare on maternal health outcomes and other health outcomes.
Biden signed the executive order during the first meeting of the Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access.
WHY THIS MATTERS
The order comes the day after Kansas voters handed abortion-rights advocates a victory by defeating a measure that would have allowed the GOP-led legislature to impose new restrictions, according to CNN.
The DOJ in the Idaho lawsuit seeks an injunction to prevent enforcement of the state law in situations where an abortion is a necessary stabilizing treatment for an emergency medical condition. Idaho's anti-abortion law is to go into effect at the end of August.
THE LARGER TREND
This is the second executive order issued on reproductive services since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June.
On July 8, Biden signed the Protecting Access to Reproductive Health Services.
On July 11, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra sent a letter to healthcare providers saying that the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act protects clinical judgment and action to provide stabilizing medical treatment to pregnant patients, regardless of restrictions in the state where they practice.
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act clarifies the obligation of hospitals and providers to provide patients at ERs with emergency care, including an abortion, if that care is necessary to stabilize their emergency medical condition.
Opponents said the law allows ER doctors to get around the Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade to perform abortions.
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org
