President Joe Biden is expected to sign a highly anticipated executive order the White House is promising will protect access to reproductive healthcare services, including abortion and contraception, after the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade.
To counter congressional gridlock, Biden will direct Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to secure the availability of medication abortion, emergency contraception, and IUDs, in part, through Obamacare and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, according to the White House.
OBAMA AND CLINTON MIDTERM POLLING OMINOUS FOR BIDEN’S NOVEMBER ELECTION PROSPECTS
Biden will also order Becerra to clarify physician responsibilities and protections under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act. That will support plans by the White House and Attorney General Merrick Garland to convene volunteer private pro bono attorneys, bar associations, and public interest organizations to be legal resources for patients, providers, and third parties.
“Such representation could include protecting the right to travel out of state to seek medical care,” the White House said Friday.
The executive action will additionally address patient privacy concerns, including health-related data transfers and sales and reproductive health digital surveillance, as well as the risk of inaccurate information, fraudulent schemes, and deceptive practices. HHS will issue new Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act guidance and consumer advice on how to safeguard personal data saved on mobile apps.
The framework will also seek to ensure patient, provider, and third-party safety, including at temporary clinics set up on state borders, and will establish a coordinating interagency task force led by HHS and the White House Gender Policy Council.
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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had been needled on the executive order’s timing after Biden foreshadowed an announcement following a meeting with governors last week when he returned from Europe.
“The president is not done speaking on how he’s going to continue to fight for women’s freedoms and women’s rights,” she said Thursday. “You will hear from him in a short order, in a short order.”
