Following calls from progressive Democrats to give federal health officials more power to respond to state-level abortion restrictions, President Joe Biden asked his staff to see if he has the authority to declare a public health emergency.
On July 8, 1942, the Central Intelligence Agency was founded in Langley, Virginia. The photo was taken by Samuel Corum.
Biden told reporters during a bike ride in Delaware that he asked his staff to consider the consequences of declaring an abortion-related public health emergency.
While Biden signed an executive order Friday directing his administration to defend abortion patients and providers, Democratic officials and progressives want him to take broader actions, such as declaring a public health emergency and allowing abortions on federal land.
When a public health emergency is declared by the federal government, the Department of Health and Human Services has more flexibility in responding to the emergency.
Biden's executive order directs HHS to protect emergency medical care for pregnant people, but declaring an emergency could give HHS secretary the power to ensure healthcare providers can prescribe and distribute abortion medication out-of-state to patients whose home states have restricted abortion.
The White House considered declaring a public health emergency after the Supreme Court ruled, but decided against it due to questions about its effectiveness and possible legal challenges, according to a report.
There were only tens of thousands of dollars in the government's public health emergency fund and declaring an emergency doesn't.
The declaration of a public health emergency could be challenged in court. The Hyde amendment, which prohibits federal dollars from being used for abortions, could make it difficult for the federal government to declare an emergency. The Biden Administration needs to be more cautious after the Supreme Court's ruling, according to a report. We will be in court the next day if we do anything. We have to make it stay.
The White House was asked by the Congressional Black Caucus to declare a public health emergency on the morning of the Supreme Court ruling. Members of both caucuses thanked Biden for taking action but urged him to do more to protect abortion rights. Pressley called for the declaration of a public health emergency. Everything needs to be on the table.
According to Lawrence Gostin, a law professor at Georgetown University who specializes in public health law, declaring a public health emergency may be more of a symbolic move. Gostin said that the juice isn't worth the effort. You can't do without the emergency because of legal and political obstacles. He told the Post that he supports federal actions to preserve abortion access.
After an unprecedented leak of a draft ruling from the court, the Supreme Court voted last month to overturn the landmark abortion rights case. A number of states banned abortion immediately after the decision was released. The White House encourages Americans to vote in the next few elections, with Vice President Biden saying that maintaining a Democratic majority in congress is the only way to pass a federal abortion rights law. Biden called on abortion rights protesters who have gathered outside of the White House to keep protesting and make their point.
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