Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 01:38 pm
President Biden has ordered the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services to seek ways for Texas women to have access to abortion.
In a statement provided to PoliticusUSA, President Biden said:
The Supreme Court’s ruling overnight is an unprecedented assault on a woman’s constitutional rights under Roe v. Wade, which has been the law of the land for almost fifty years. By allowing a law to go into effect that empowers private citizens in Texas to sue health care providers, family members supporting a woman exercising her right to choose after six weeks, or even a friend who drives her to a hospital or clinic, it unleashes unconstitutional chaos and empowers self-anointed enforcers to have devastating impacts. Complete strangers will now be empowered to inject themselves in the most private and personal health decisions faced by women. This law is so extreme it does not even allow for exceptions in the case of rape or incest. And it not only empowers complete strangers to inject themselves into the most private of decisions made by a woman—it actually incentivizes them to do so with the prospect of $10,000 if they win their case. For the majority to do this without a hearing, without the benefit of an opinion from a court below, and without due consideration of the issues, insults the rule of law and the rights of all Americans to seek redress from our courts. Rather than use its supreme authority to ensure justice could be fairly sought, the highest Court of our land will allow millions of women in Texas in need of critical reproductive care to suffer while courts sift through procedural complexities. The dissents by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan all demonstrate the error of the Court’s action here powerfully.
While the Chief Justice was clear to stress that the action by the Supreme Court is not a final ruling on the future of Roe, the impact of last night’s decision will be immediate and requires an immediate response. One reason I became the first president in history to create a Gender Policy Council was to be prepared to react to such assaults on women’s rights. Hence, I am directing that Council and the Office of the White House Counsel to launch a whole-of-government effort to respond to this decision, looking specifically to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice to see what steps the Federal Government can take to ensure that women in Texas have access to safe and legal abortions as protected by Roe, and what legal tools we have to insulate women and providers from the impact of Texas’ bizarre scheme of outsourced enforcement to private parties.
The DOJ Is Going To Have To Sue Texas
There may be something that Biden can do to help doctors and providers from the executive branch, but executive power is limited, so he can’t reverse this alone.
The Department of Justice is going to have to sue Texas and get the courts to issue an injunction blocking the law until a federal case can reach the Supreme Court.
In the meantime, Congress must legislatively act to protect reproductive health rights. Even if the Supreme Court were to overturn a federal abortion law, the process would take years, and that would allow more time for both future elections and action to protect a fundamental human right for American women.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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