Joe Biden has signed an executive order offering protections to millions of American women denied the constitutional right to abortion.
The move signals the start of a White House fightback after the supreme court last month struck down Roe v Wade, its landmark ruling that for half a century had legalised abortion nationwide.
In a White House address on Friday, the president condemned the court’s decision as “terrible, extreme and I think so totally wrong-headed” and not a constitutional judgment but “an exercise in raw political power”.
With multiple states already imposing harsh restrictions, Biden outlined an executive order that will safeguard access to reproductive healthcare services, including abortion and contraception. This includes access to medication abortions, also known as abortion pills, approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Among the provisions is a plan for Merrick Garland, the attorney general, and Dana Remus, the White House counsel, to convene private pro bono lawyers, bar associations and public interest organisations to encourage “robust legal representation of patients, providers and third parties lawfully seeking or offering reproductive health care services throughout the country”.
Such representation could include protecting the right to travel out of state to seek an abortion. Biden and Garland have vowed to oppose any state or local official who attempts to interfere with women exercising that right.
In addition, the executive order is designed to promote “the safety and security of patients, providers and clinics”. A how-to guide for consumers will explain steps to ensure they are protecting their personal data on mobile apps amid fears that state officials could try to track and prosecute them.
Biden said: “There’s an increasing concern that extremist governors and others will try to get that data off of your phone which is out there in the ether to find what you’re seeking, where you’re going and what you’re doing with regard to your healthcare. Talk about no privacy.
“This executive order asks the FTC [Federal Trade Commission] to crackdown on data brokers that sell private information to extreme groups.”
An interagency taskforce will coordinate federal government efforts to protect reproductive rights. Garland will provide technical assistance to states affording legal protection to out-of-state patients as well as providers who offer legal reproductive health care.
The supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade two weeks ago was a seismic shock to the political system that left elected officials scrambling to respond. The president noted that abortion bans have taken effect in 13 states with 12 additional states likely to following in the coming weeks. They will disproportionately affect women of colour, low-income women and rural women.
Flanked by vice president Kamala Harris and health secretary Xavier Becerra, Biden warned: “What we’re witnessing is a giant step backwards in much of our country … Some of these states don’t allow for exceptions for rape or incest. This isn’t some imagined horror. It’s already happening.”
The president became visibly angry as he noted recent media reports that a 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio who was six weeks pregnant and ineligible for an abortion in her own state was forced to travel to Indiana for the procedure.
“A 10-year old girl should be forced to give birth to a rapist’s child? I can tell you what I know. I can’t think of anything that’s much more extreme. The court’s decision has already been received by Republicans in Congress as a green light to go further and pass a national ban … That would mean the right to choose will be illegal nationwide if, in fact they succeed. Let me tell you something. As long as I’m president, it won’t happen because I’ll veto it.”
In Louisiana on Friday, a New Orleans judge let dissolve a 27 June order temporarily blocking the enforcement of laws banning virtually all abortions in the state after the reversal of Roe.
Biden has been criticised for failing to push back hard enough to defend abortion rights. Friday’s executive order might buy him some time, but is necessarily limited in scope. He acknowledged as much in his remarks as he urged Congress to codify Roe as federal law – which in turns depends on November’s midterm elections, in which Democrats are widely expected to perform poorly.
“The court now practically dares the women of America to go to the ballot box and restore the very rights they’ve just taken away,” Biden said. “I don’t think the court or, for that matter, Republicans who for decades have pushed the extreme agenda have a clue about the power of American women. But they’re about to find out.”
A Pew Research Center survey published this week found that 57% of adults disapprove of the court’s sweeping decision, while 41% approve. Public support for legal abortion remains largely unchanged since before the decision, with 62% saying it should be legal in all or most cases.
Biden concluded: “We cannot allow an out-of-control supreme court, working in conjunction with extremist elements of the Republican party, to take away freedoms and our personal autonomy. The choice we face as a nation is between the mainstream and the extreme.”
