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White House announces actions to protect medication abortion access on anniversary of Roe v. Wade [1]
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Date: 2023-01-23
The memorandum directs Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to consider new guidance in order to ensure accessibility to mifepristone and misoprostol is in place and that patients know their right to access reproductive health care.
“Members of our Cabinet and our administration are now directed to identify barriers to access and recommend actions to make sure that: doctors can legally prescribe, that pharmacies can dispense and that women can secure safe and effective medication,” Harris said Sunday when announcing the memorandum.
She added:
“Even in states that protect reproductive rights, like New Jersey, Illinois, Oregon, even there, people live in fear of what might be next, because Republicans in Congress are now calling for a nationwide abortion ban. Even from the moment of conception, the right of every woman in every state in this country to make decisions about her own body is on the line. And I said it before and I will say it again: How dare they?”
According to The Hill, after the fall of Roe v. Wade, mifepristone accounted for more than half of all abortions in the country.
In addition to announcing the memorandum, Harris urged Congress members to introduce bills aimed at protecting abortion rights nationally, noting that the Biden administration would sign and support them.
But whether such laws would even pass to make it to Biden is unclear. A new NPR/Ipsos poll finds that while 3 in 5 Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, when asked about the circumstances of abortion, their opinions range. Conducted in January, people from all spectrums of the political poll were asked whether they knew the abortion laws in their state and about the circumstances. While answers varied, the majority agreed that politics—not public will—drive abortion policy.
According to NPR, abortion is illegal or heavily restricted in at least 14 states. According to the poll, these restrictions are at odds with what the majority of Americans want.
To commemorate the landmark case’s would-be anniversary, people also took to social media to share their stories of how they were either able to access care during the time Roe was law, and the struggles they’ve faced since its overturn.
One Idaho woman even went viral on Tik Tok for sharing the story of her 19-day miscarriage—during which she said the state's abortion laws prevented her from getting care, ABC News reported.
"Why should I get to death's door to get help?" Carmen Broesder asked. "I am prepared to be a mother. I am a mother and I wanted to have another baby. That is my story and it almost killed me."
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/23/2148801/-White-House-announces-actions-to-protect-medication-abortion-access-on-anniversary-of-Roe-v-Wade
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