Vice President Kamala Harris downplayed the prospect of opening federal lands to abortion services after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade as Democrats demand that the Biden administration find new ways to mitigate the ruling’s impact.
Asked about the controversial proposal during an interview with CNN on Monday, Harris said it was not “right now” on the administration’s agenda.
“It’s not right now what we are discussing,” Harris responded.
The vice president said “most important” are the administration’s efforts to help women “receive the care where it is available.”
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The court’s reversal returns power to the states to decide when a woman can terminate a pregnancy, reversing the nearly five-decade precedent that legalized abortions nationwide. Democratic lawmakers are urging the Biden administration to set up abortion services on federal grounds in states where providers are no longer permitted to operate in response.
Harris made her comments in her first interview since the Supreme Court ruled on Friday.
While the White House has said it is pursuing efforts to protect access to abortion medication and the ability of women to cross state lines to seek the procedure, it faces growing pressure to take stronger actions.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said Monday that the administration could establish Planned Parenthood outposts on national park lands, telling the Washington Post, “They could put up tents, have trained personnel — and be there to help people who need it.”
Warren had called for the workaround during a news conference on Friday following the court’s decision.
“[President Joe Biden should] explore just how much we can start using federal lands as a way to protect people who need access to abortions in all the states that either have banned abortions or are clearly on the threshold of doing so,” Warren told reporters. “There is much we can do at the federal level administratively under current law. We need to do it.”
Other liberal lawmakers have urged similar measures, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Friday asking Biden to open abortion clinics on federal lands.
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“I’ll start with the babiest of the babiest of baby steps: Open abortion clinics on federal lands in red states right now,” Ocasio-Cortez said in remarks outside the court.
