Biden Issues Second Executive Order on Reproductive Health Care Access
- August 05, 2022
President Biden issued August 3 a new executive order as part of the administration’s latest effort to help shore up access to reproductive health care services in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
The order directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary to consider how to facilitate out-of-state travel, including through Medicaid to the extent permitted by federal law, for women seeking reproductive health care.
Last week, Senate Democrats unveiled a FY 2023 HHS spending measure that includes $350 million in new funding to help women travel to states where abortion remains legal. The measure would eliminate the Hyde amendment, which generally prohibits the use of federal funding for abortion.
The executive order also requires the HHS Secretary to take actions to help ensure health care providers comply with federal non-discrimination laws, including issuing additional guidance and responding to any complaints or reports of non-compliance.
The National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also must improve research, data collection, and analysis on maternal health and other health outcomes under the executive order.
In July, President Biden issued an executive order aimed at protecting access to reproductive health care, privacy protections, and helping patients pursue their legal options. That executive order also called for establishing an interagency task force on reproductive health care access to coordinate federal policymaking.
Biden signed the latest directive at the first meeting of the Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access. The task force is co-chaired by HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and the Director of the White House Gender Policy Council Jennifer Klein.
The executive order came shortly after voters in Kansas rejected a ballot initiative to amend the state’s constitution to strip abortion protections. “Congress should listen to the will of the American people and restore the protections of Roe as federal law. While that is the only way to secure a woman’s right to choose, my Administration will continue to take meaningful action to protect women’s access to reproductive health care,” Biden said.