Joe Biden has signed an executive order to protect access to reproductive healthcare.
The Democrat US President termed the Supreme Court‘s decision to overturn the right to abortion as an exercise in raw political power. On Friday he signed an executive order that will ease access to services to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.
Joe Biden has been facing pressure from within the Democratic Party to initiate action after the digressive decision in June by the Supreme Court unturned Roe v. Wade and upended around 5 decades of protection of the reproductive rights of women.
The order has directed the federal health dept. to increase access to medicated abortion, which are prescribed pills to help terminate a pregnancy. The order by Joe Biden will also ensure that women can readily access emergency medical support, contraception, and family planning. It has also moved to protect women and doctors who are forced to travel across state borders for abortions and also mobile abortion clinics at state borders.
Joe Biden’s Order Falls Short On Specifics
But the executive order by Joe Biden was short on specifics. There is apprehension that there could be limited impact in practice as US states are free to make laws that restrict access to reproductive medication and abortion support.
Joe Biden told reporters that the action by the Supreme Court did not constitute a constitutional judgment. He termed it as an application of overt political power, alluding to the overwhelming presence of Republican judges in the Supreme Court, with 6 out of 9 judges coming out openly in support of the GOP.
He said an out-of-control SCOTUS was working in conjunction with extremists in the GOP and was taking away the freedom and personal autonomy of Americans.
The White House has not publicly spoken of reforming the court due to its partisan nature or expanding the 9-member panel to shut out the advantage derived by the Republican judges. He also said that he would veto any law passed by Republicans to ban abortion rights on a federal level.
