Merkley, Wyden Join Warren and Murray Urging President Biden to use Executive Powers to Defend Reproductive Rights for Americans
“Americans across the nation and at every level of government must stand up against this unprecedented assault on women and their right to make decisions about their own bodies and lives.”
Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden today joined Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Patty Murray (D-WA) in a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to immediately issue an executive order directing the federal government to develop a national plan to defend Americans’ fundamental reproductive rights, including the right to an abortion.
“Abortion access is under attack in the United States and already completely eliminated in swaths of the country,” wrote the lawmakers. “After decades of activism by Republican extremists, the Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, reversing nearly 50 years of settled law and eviscerating the right to a legal abortion. Anti-abortion violence is on the rise, with assaults and threats of harm against abortion providers more than doubling between 2016 and 2020. Anti-abortion politicians have introduced nearly 550 abortion restrictions in 42 states and passed radical laws completely banning abortion and placing bounties on providers offering medical services.? And if Roe v. Wade is gutted by this right-wing Supreme Court, Republican leaders have already signaled their next move: a nationwide ban on abortion in all 50 states.”
President Biden has previously mobilized the full force of the federal government on behalf of several key Administration priorities such as racial justice, voting rights, and competition. With the right to an abortion under attack by the Supreme Court and Republican extremists across the country, the lawmakers urge the President to act with equal boldness and urgency to protect the right to an abortion. In particular, the lawmakers suggest the following actions for the President’s consideration:?
1. Increasing access to medication abortion. Federal agencies could take steps to increase the accessibility of medication abortion and ensure the wide availability of accurate information about medication abortion.
2. Providing resources for individuals seeking abortion care in other states. Federal agencies could explore opportunities to provide vouchers for travel, child care services, and other forms of support for individuals seeking to access abortion care that is unavailable in their home state.
3. Establishing a reproductive health ombudsman at the Department of Health and Humans Services (HHS). A new ombudsman could educate the public and analyze data collected by HHS about access to reproductive services. For example, this office could gather information about insurers’ coverage of reproductive health services (such as contraception); disseminate information about how individuals could connect with Title X clinics, reproductive health clinics, and abortion funds; and provide the public with safety information related to self-managed abortions outside formal medical settings.
4. Enforcing “Free Choice of Provider” regulations. HHS could explore more aggressively enforcing federal requirements that guarantee Medicaid beneficiaries have the ability to seek family planning services from their provider of choice.9
5. Clarifying protections for sensitive health and location data. HHS’s Office for Civil Rights could clarify how websites or mobile applications that collect information related to reproductive health (such as period trackers) should protect personally identifiable information and other sensitive data, especially given the risks presented by the sale of this data in states that criminalize reproductive decision-making.
6. Using federal lands and resources to increase access to abortion. The Department of Justice could analyze the types of reproductive health services that could be provided on federal property in states where such services are limited by state law or regulation. The Department of Defense could assess the feasibility of moving military personnel and their families or allowing them to travel to states where they can access reproductive health care.
7. Expanding abortion care and other reproductive health services for veterans through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The VA could conduct a review of its regulations and policies that limit abortion care and other reproductive health services for veterans and promulgate new regulations that expand access to those services.
“These proposals are only starting points in a federal apparatus that affects millions of Americans every day. The entirety of the federal government must be engaged in the Administration’s efforts and must act as swiftly as possible,” the lawmakers continued.
In addition to Merkley, Wyden, Warren, and Murray, the letter was also signed by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI); Richard Blumenthal (D-CN), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Chris Murphy (D-CT) Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI) Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Tina Smith (D-MN), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).
Full text of the letter can be found here and follows below:
June 8, 2022
Dear Mr. President,
We write to urge you to immediately issue an executive order directing the federal government to develop a national plan to defend Americans’ fundamental reproductive rights, including their right to an abortion.
??????????? Abortion access is under attack in the United States and already completely eliminated in swaths of the country. After decades of activism by Republican extremists, the Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, reversing nearly 50 years of settled law and eviscerating the right to a legal abortion.1 Anti-abortion violence is on the rise, with assaults and threats of harm against abortion providers more than doubling between 2016 and 2020.2 Anti-abortion politicians have introduced nearly 550 abortion restrictions in 42 states and passed radical laws completely banning abortion and placing bounties on providers offering medical services.3 And if Roe v. Wade is gutted by this right-wing Supreme Court, Republican leaders have already signaled their next move: a nationwide ban on abortion in all 50 states.4
??????????? Americans across the nation and at every level of government must stand up against this unprecedented assault on women and their right to make decisions about their own bodies and lives. But as President of the United States, you have the unique power to marshal the resources of the entire federal government to respond.
??????????? You have already mobilized the full weight of the federal government on behalf of several key Administration priorities. On your first day in office, you issued an executive order directing “the whole of the federal government to advance an ambitious equity and racial justice agenda,” prompting more than 90 federal agencies to develop over 300 concrete strategies and commitments to address systemic racism.5 On the 56th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, you issued an executive order instructing “the head of each federal agency to submit . . . a strategic plan outlining ways their agency can promote voter registration and participation within 200 days.”6? And on July 9, 2021, you issued an executive order establishing “a whole-of-government effort to promote competition in the American economy,” ordering more than a dozen federal agencies to implement 72 initiatives to tackle our nation’s most urgent competition problems.7
??????????? Now is the time for equally bold action to protect the right to an abortion. The Biden-Harris Administration has led on issues of reproductive rights with the establishment of the White House Gender Policy Council, the release of the first-ever National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality, and the launch of a whole-of-government response to Texas’s draconian law depriving residents of their constitutional right to an abortion.8 Nevertheless, the dramatic escalation of attacks on abortion access—spearheaded by right-wing justices, lawmakers, and activists—demands comprehensive and creative strategies from every corner of the federal government. We encourage you to consider the following ideas:
2. Increasing access to medication abortion. Federal agencies could take steps to increase the accessibility of medication abortion and ensure the wide availability of accurate information about medication abortion.
3. Providing resources for individuals seeking abortion care in other states. Federal agencies could explore opportunities to provide vouchers for travel, child care services, and other forms of support for individuals seeking to access abortion care that is unavailable in their home state.
4. Establishing a reproductive health ombudsman at the Department of Health and Humans Services (HHS). A new ombudsman could educate the public and analyze data collected by HHS about access to reproductive services. For example, this office could gather information about insurers’ coverage of reproductive health services (such as contraception); disseminate information about how individuals could connect with Title X clinics, reproductive health clinics, and abortion funds; and provide the public with safety information related to self-managed abortions outside formal medical settings.
5. Enforcing “Free Choice of Provider” regulations. HHS could explore more aggressively enforcing federal requirements that guarantee Medicaid beneficiaries have the ability to seek family planning services from their provider of choice.9
6. Clarifying protections for sensitive health and location data. HHS’s Office for Civil Rights could clarify how websites or mobile applications that collect information related to reproductive health (such as period trackers) should protect personally identifiable information and other sensitive data, especially given the risks presented by the sale of this data in states that criminalize reproductive decision-making.
7. Using federal lands and resources to increase access to abortion. The Department of Justice could analyze the types of reproductive health services that could be provided on federal property in states where such services are limited by state law or regulation. The Department of Defense could assess the feasibility of moving military personnel and their families or allowing them to travel to states where they can access reproductive health care.
8. Expanding abortion care and other reproductive health services for veterans through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The VA could conduct a review of its regulations and policies that limit abortion care and other reproductive health services for veterans and promulgate new regulations that expand access to those services.
These proposals are only starting points in a federal apparatus that affects millions of Americans every day. The entirety of the federal government must be engaged in the Administration’s efforts and must act as swiftly as possible.
As extremist judges and Republican politicians intensify their efforts to strip Americans of their basic reproductive freedoms, you can demonstrate to the country and women everywhere that you will do everything in your power to fight back. With each day that passes, this crisis will only worsen: if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, 26 states could instantly move to ban abortion, leading 36 million women to suddenly lose access to abortion and causing maternal mortality—which already disproportionately affects women of color—to drastically increase.10 We urge you to immediately issue an executive order instructing the leaders of every federal agency to submit their plans to protect the right to an abortion within 30 days. Americans across the country are at risk of losing their fundamental rights, including their constitutional right to abortion protected for generations. They deserve no less than a whole-of-government response.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
###
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