The US President, Joe Biden signed an executive order this Friday to protect access to abortion and silence criticism from members of his party who accuse him of not having reacted with the necessary urgency to the Supreme Court ruling against that right.
(Also read: The countries that punish women who abort with jail)
Biden’s measures have a limited scope because the only way to guarantee the right to abortion in the US is with the approval of a law in Congress, something that is not easy because it would take the support of ten senators from the Republican opposition.
For this reason, the president urged Americans, especially women, to vote in the November elections to change the composition of Congress.
(You may be interested in: USA: restrict sale of birth control pills due to fear of shortage)
“You women can determine what the outcome of this issue is. I don’t think the Court or the Republicans, who have advanced this extreme agenda for decades, have any idea about the power of American women,” Biden said.
Visibly angry, the president alluded to the story of a 10-year-old girl in Ohio who became pregnant after being raped and had to travel to Indiana for medical care because her state bans abortion after six weeks.
“Should a 10-year-old girl be forced to give birth to a rapist’s child?” asked Biden, who blamed the “extreme agenda” of Republicans for the little girl’s situation.
(Also: Disney and more companies that will cover travel costs for staff to abort)
Specifically, Biden’s executive order empowers the Health and Justice departments to protect access to birth control pills and allowing women to cross state lines to access abortion in territory where it is legal.
The decree, however, does not specify how the Government is going to protect access to contraceptive pills whose use could grow and which are already used by 54% of American women in 2020, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
The Department of Health will also be charged with ensuring that women have access to contraceptive methods and ensuring that medical personnel care for women who are experiencing a miscarriage or complications with their pregnancy.
Also, the executive order will ask for increased protection of patient privacy searching the internet for information on how to access reproductive care.
In addition, the Government will organize a team of lawyers that will give legal advice to providers and individuals to help them navigate the new restrictions on abortion.
Another measure will be a public education campaign to inform about the options available to access abortion.
Criticism of Biden
Since the Supreme Court of Justice annulled on June 24 the ruling Roe vs. Wade that in 1973 guaranteed the right to abortion at the federal level, seven states have already prohibited access to voluntary interruption of pregnancy and many more are expected to follow that path.
That same day, Biden called the ruling a “tragic mistake” and announced regulatory measures on access to abortion pills and on the right of women to travel to other states if they wish to have an abortion.
But since then, the Democrat has remained silent on the issue, drawing increasingly virulent criticism from his own Democratic Party, which believes he is not doing enough to defend abortion rights following the Supreme Court ruling.
(Read more: Abortion in the US: the latest attack on women’s rights)
The measures announced this Friday do not go as far as the most progressive members of the Democratic Party wanted, such as Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has repeatedly urged Biden to use the federal facilities over which the Government has power in different states -including those that already prohibit abortion – to help women who need such medical care.
*With information from AFP and Efe
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