Here is their plan.
To help women in Republican-controlled states get abortions if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, White House aides are looking into executive actions President Joe Biden can take, reporting by The New York Times reveals.
The ideas the aides are examining include readying the Department of Justice to fight possible moves GOP states could make to criminalize traveling to get an abortion, announcing regulations by the FDA approving abortion medication override state attempts to outlaw them, and declaring a national public health emergency.
However, an executive order won’t be able to reinstate the constitutional right for women to get an abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned by the Supreme Court.
White House counsel Dana Remus, the director of the gender policy council Jennifer Klein, and the White House domestic policy council Susan Rice, have been tasked with studying the potential legal ramifications if Biden issues any executive orders on abortion.
Following the draft opinion leak in early May, which showed a majority of Supreme Court justices supported the overturning of Roe v. Wade, a political firestorm has ensued.
Commenting on the leak, Marya Torrez, the senior director of policy development and strategy at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said, “We are at a crisis moment for abortion access in this country, and officials at all levels of government must respond — including the executive branch.”
White House aides have also expressed concern about the aftermath should the Supreme Court follow through on overturning Roe v. Wade, stating it could trigger a political crisis, including mass protests.
To complicate matters, the Supreme Court decision may come while Biden is attending the Group of 7 summit in Europe, as The New York Times reports the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the issue in the next two weeks.
