White House highlights reproductive rights on 1-year anniversary of abortion ruling
Biden on Friday to sign executive order aimed at strengthening access to contraception
U.S. President Joe Biden hosts a rally Friday to mark the approaching one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court decision overturning federal abortion protections, and will issue an executive order seeking to bolster access to contraception.
The president's executive order aims to strengthen access to contraception, a growing concern for Democrats after some conservatives signalled a willingness to push beyond abortion into regulation of contraception. In 2017, nearly 65 per cent of girls and women age 15 to 49 in the U.S. used a form of contraception, some 47 million in total.
Some abortion opponents are calling for the abortion drug mifepristone to lose its 23-year-old approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Supreme Court has preserved access for now.
"We're really trying to do three separate things all related to each other," said Jen Klein, a top Biden aide on gender policy. "The first is increased and expanded contraceptive options. The second is to lower out-of-pocket costs. And the third is to raise awareness about what options are available."
Vice-President Kamala Harris, who has has hosted almost 50 meetings in 16 states on the subject of reproductive rights since the seismic Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling on June 24 of last year, was also scheduled to speak to the issue at a public event in Charlotte, N.C.
Since the ruling on June 24 of last year rescinded a five-decade-old right to abortion, more than 25 million girls and women ages 15 to 44 now live in states where there are more restrictions on abortion access than there were before the top court ruling. That's 40 per cent of all females in that age bracket, and 5.5 million more live in states where restrictions have been adopted but are on hold pending court challenges.
Polling has consistently found that most Americans think abortions should be available in at least some circumstances, including especially early in a pregnancy. Gallup in February found that nearly half of Americans it surveyed believed abortion laws should be less strict, a significant jump in that finding since the previous survey done just a few months before.
Reproductive rights groups endorse Biden-Harris early
Also timed to the anniversary are endorsements for Biden and Harris from Planned Parenthood Action Fund, NARAL Pro-Choice America and Emily's List. The leading voices on abortion rights were always going to endorse the Democratic ticket, but the heads of the three organizations say getting out early and loudly is important on an issue that they expect will animate voters.
"The longer these bans are in place, the more people either will know someone who has experienced something or read a terrible story," said Mini Timmaraju, head of NARAL Pro-Choice America. "They have to make a decision about where to go to college based on the states with the bans. They have to make a decision about whether to practice medicine based on an abortion ban. It's permeating everyday life now, and it's having unintended consequences."
Decisions about the law are largely in the hands of state lawmakers and courts. Most Republican-led states have restricted abortion. Fourteen ban abortion in most cases at any point in pregnancy.
As a result, the stakes remain high, said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
"We are heading into an election where opposition is very clear: they are pushing for a national ban," she said.
In 25 states, abortion remains generally legal up to at least 24 weeks of pregnancy. In 20 of those states, protections have been solidified through constitutional amendments or laws. Officials in many of those states, including California, Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico and New York, have explicitly invited women from places where the procedure is banned.
Clinics with access see rise in out-of-state patients
Kansas is one of the closest places to obtain abortions for people in parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. A new clinic opened in Kansas City, Kansas, four days before Dobbs. Within weeks, the clinic was overwhelmed, even after lengthening hours, hiring staff and flying in physicians.
Dr. Iman Alsaden, the Planned Parenthood medical director based in Kansas, said most patients in the Kansas clinics are now coming from elsewhere.
"You're in a really, really dire public health situation when you are looking at someone who had to jump through endless amounts of hoops just to make this work and saying they're so lucky they're able to do this," Alsaden said.
LISTEN | The fight over the abortion pill mifepristone:
Because of reporting lags and gaps in data, the impact on the number of abortions provided across the U.S. is not completely clear. But the authors of #WeCount, a survey conducted for the Society of Family Planning, a non-profit organization that promotes research and supports abortion access, say the monthly average went down after Dobbs.
In Louisiana, where abortion was legal until 22 weeks' gestational age before Dobbs, the state reported more than 7,400 abortions in 2020, the last year for which full data was available. #WeCount found there were an average of 785 a month in April and May 2022 — and fewer than 10 every month since the ban there has been in place.
There are similar trends elsewhere. In Idaho, 1,700 abortions were reported in 2020, and #WeCount found fewer than 10 a month recently. In Texas, state data shows only a handful of abortions monthly from August through January. Before restrictions there took effect in 2021, there were often more than 5,000 per month.
The #WeCount survey found that the number of abortions has risen dramatically in states that border those with no access, such as Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico and North Carolina. In Illinois, for instance, the survey tallied about 5,600 abortions in April 2022 and more than 7,900 in March 2023.