President Joe Biden signed an executive order Friday aimed at protecting abortion access following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Speaking from the Roosevelt Room of the White House with Vice President Kamala Harris and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Biden said the decision was “extreme” and “totally wrong”.
Biden also said the court was “playing fast and loose with the facts,” and stressed that “medicine should not be frozen in the 19th century”.
The president then focused on upcoming elections, saying “If you want to change the circumstance for women, and even little girls in this country, please go out and vote”.
“Let me be clear. While I wish it had not come to this, this is the fastest route available,” he added. “The fastest way to restore Roe is to pass a national law codifying Roe, which I will sign immediately upon its passage on my desk”.
“I don’t think the Court, or for that matter the Republicans who for decades have pushed their extreme agenda, have a clue about the power of American women. But they’re about to find out,” he continued.
Biden also noted that a nationwide abortion ban “won’t happen”. “Let me tell you something. As long as I’m president, it won’t happen because I’ll veto it”.
The executive order protects access to reproductive health care services, including abortion and contraception, and protects the privacy of patients, providers and clinics.
The Department of Health and Human Services will also work to protect and expand access to abortion care and emergency contraception.