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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will convene key members of his Cabinet on Monday to discuss abortion rights on the 51st anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling, according to a White House official.
The president will “hear directly from physicians on the frontlines of the fallout” since the landmark decision was reversed and detail new actions his administration is taking to strengthen access to contraception and medication abortion, as well as ensuring patients can receive emergency medical care.
The meeting will mark the fourth time his task force on reproductive health care access has come together since the fall of Roe roughly a year and a half ago.
The Departments of Treasury, Labor and Health and Human Services will issue new guidance Monday to clarify standards and support expanded coverage of FDA-approved contraceptives at no cost under the Affordable Care Act for millions of women nationwide, according to the White House official.
The new effort will be launched by HHS to “educate all patients about their rights and to help ensure hospitals meet their obligations under federal law,” the White House official said.
The Office of Personnel Management will also offer new guidance to strengthen access to contraception for federal workers, retirees and family members, the official said.
Notably, the administration is announcing a “comprehensive plan” to increase awareness about access to emergency medical care required under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA).
The Department of Justice is currently defending the position that required emergency care “can, in some circumstances, include abortion care,” before the Supreme Court. The high court is expected to rule on the case by June.
Members of the president’s task force are expected to report back on the ongoing implementation of various executive actions on expanding access to reproductive health care, the official said.
Both the White House and Biden’s re-election campaign have been blaming Republicans and slamming the GOP’s more restricted stance on abortion as a “dangerous, extreme, and out-of-touch agenda.”
“Even as Americans — from Ohio to Kentucky to Michigan to Kansas to California — have resoundingly rejected attempts to limit reproductive freedom, Republican elected officials continue to push for a national ban and devastating new restrictions across the country,” Biden wrote in a statement Monday.
Most state bans currently in effect do not have exceptions for rape or incest, and some doctors can be charged with a felony or even face life in prison if they perform the procedure.
While the president hosts a meeting with his task force on Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Wisconsin to launch a nationwide tour focused on reproductive freedom.
Over the past year, the vice president has traveled to 16 states and met with 250 legislators on reproductive rights, work which she is expected to continue ahead of November, the Biden administration said.
“The president is incredibly grateful to the vice president for helping to lead this work, and to be his partner in meeting this work,” White House Gender Policy Council Director Jen Klein said.
Abortion is expected to be a major issue in the 2024 presidential election, largely because of voters’ attitudes toward abortion-related initiatives in the 2022 midterms.
Since the Dobbs decision, abortion has appeared on the ballot seven times, with measures in states like Kansas, Michigan, Kentucky, California, Vermont, Montana and Ohio. In every instance, in both traditionally “red” and “blue” states, a Biden campaign memo stated last week, people “resoundingly voted to protect their rights.”
Voters will again weigh in on abortion in November in several key battleground states, including Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin.
The Biden administration plans to make ballot initiatives on abortion a “core part” of its strategy in the next 10 months, engaging hundreds of state leaders who are deeply involved with current legislative battles on the topic, Klein said.
“The administration is committed to ensuring women have the freedom to make their own reproductive health care decisions,” she added.
The president, first lady, vice president and second gentleman will headline their first joint campaign rally of the cycle on Tuesday in northern Virginia to highlight the importance of abortion access.
The administration has repeatedly urged Congress to pass a law that would restore the protections that existed under Roe, but that proved impossible even when Democrats controlled both the House and Senate, so it is unlikely to happen anytime soon.
