President Joe Biden said Sunday he is considering declaring a public health emergency to free up federal resources to promote abortion access even though the White House has said it doesnt seem like a great option.
He also offered a message to people enraged by the Supreme Courts ruling last month that ended a constitutional right to abortion and who have been demonstrating across the country: Keep protesting. Keep making your point. Its critically important.
The president, in remarks to reporters during a stop on a bike ride near his familys Delaware beach house, said he lacks the power to force the dozen-plus states with strict restrictions or outright bans on abortion to allow the procedure.
I dont have the authority to say that were going to reinstate Roe v. Wade as the law of the land, he said, referring to the Supreme Courts decision from 1973 that had established a national right to abortion. Biden said Congress would have to codify that right and for that to have a better chance in the future, voters would have to elect more lawmakers who support abortion access.
Biden said his administration is trying to do a lot of things to accommodate the rights of women after the ruling, including considering declaring a public health emergency to free up federal resources. Such a move has been pushed by advocates, but White House officials have questioned both its legality and effectiveness, and noted it would almost certainly face legal challenges.
The president said he has asked officials to look at whether I have the authority to do that and what impact that would have.
On Friday, Jen Klein, the director of the White House Gender Policy Council, said it didnt seem like a great option.
When we looked at the public health emergency, we learned a couple things: One is that it doesnt free very many resources, she told reporters. Its whats in the public health emergency fund, and theres very little money tens of thousands of dollars in it. So that didnt seem like a great option. And it also doesnt release a significant amount of legal authority. And so thats why we havent taken that action yet.
(AP)
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Spending federal money to provide abortion would violate the Hyde Amendment.