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Joe Biden signs executive order protecting access to abortion | Roe v Wade | The Guardian

Joe Biden signs executive order protecting access to abortion

Move by president signals start of White House fightback after supreme court struck down Roe v Wade

the Guardian

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”.

Standard disclaimer that we still need to vote in November, because an executive order that one president issues can be struck down by another president and it’s safer if we get this passed through congress as an actual law. In the mean time, though, this is still a vital stopgap, and I can breathe slightly more easily tonight.