June 16, 2022

ICYMI: At Press Conference, Warren and Murray Call on President Biden to Issue Executive Order Defending Americans’ Right to Abortion

Video of Press Conference (Twitter)

Washington, D.C. – In case you missed it, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, led a press conference reiterating their call to President Biden to immediately issue an executive order to defend Americans’ reproductive rights, including their right to an abortion.

“President Biden has called for whole-of-government responses for national priorities like voting rights, racial justice, and promoting competition. With this extremist Supreme Court poised to overturn Roe v. Wade and Republican politicians ready to swoop in with their extremist abortion bans, it’s time for President Biden to mobilize a whole-of-government response to protect abortion rights,” said Senator Warren. “This is a five-alarm fire, and Congress and the President don’t have a second to waste in this moment of crisis.”

“We need an all-of-government plan to protect reproductive rights. We need the Biden administration to step up to the plate and do everything it possibly can to protect the right to abortion,” said Senator Murray. “Last month, when the draft Supreme Court decision was leaked, I pushed Secretary Becerra on the administration’s plans. I’ll be frank: I was not satisfied with his answer. That’s why, last week, Senator Warren and I led our colleagues in calling on President Biden to immediately issue an executive order instructing every federal agency to develop a plan to protect the right to abortion. We’re not going to sit around quietly waiting for him to act. Fair warning, Mr. President: we’re going to be loud. We’re going to be relentless. Because, Mr. President, we need a plan to protect reproductive rights in America—and we need it now.”

Last week, Senators Warren and Murray led over 20 of their Democratic colleagues urging President Biden to mobilize the full force of the federal government and act to protect the right to an abortion, including by:

  • Increasing access to medication abortion. Federal agencies could take steps to increase the accessibility of medication abortion and ensure the wide availability of accurate information about medication abortion.
  • Providing resources for individuals seeking abortion care in other states. Federal agencies could explore opportunities to provide vouchers for travel, child care services, and other forms of support for individuals seeking to access abortion care that is unavailable in their home state.
  • Establishing a reproductive health ombudsman at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). A new ombudsman could educate the public and analyze data collected by HHS about access to reproductive services. For example, this office could gather information about insurers’ coverage of reproductive health services (such as contraception); disseminate information about how individuals could connect with Title X clinics, reproductive health clinics, and abortion funds; and provide the public with safety information related to self-managed abortions outside formal medical settings.
  • Enforcing “Free Choice of Provider” requirements. HHS could explore more aggressively enforcing federal requirements that guarantee Medicaid beneficiaries have the ability to seek family planning services from their provider of choice.
  • Clarifying protections for sensitive health and location data. HHS’s Office for Civil Rights could clarify how websites or mobile applications that collect information related to reproductive health (such as period trackers) should protect personally identifiable information and other sensitive data, especially given the risks presented by the sale of this data in states that criminalize reproductive decision-making.
  • Using federal property and resources to increase access to abortion. The Department of Justice and all relevant agencies could analyze the types of reproductive health services that could be provided on federal property, especially in states where such services are limited by state law or regulation. The Department of Defense could assess the feasibility of moving military personnel and their families and any authority to ensure that members and their families can access reproductive health care when they need it. The Office of Personnel Management could explore requirements that all federal employees are provided paid time off and reimbursement for expenses necessary to access abortion. And all federal agencies—including those who retain custody or control over individuals or provide health care to them—could conduct a review of their regulations and policies that limit abortion care and other reproductive health services and promulgate new regulations that expand access to those services.

With the Supreme Court poised to overturn Roe v. Wade and Republican politicians ready to enact abortion bans, Senator Warren has mobilized Congress and the American people to protect access to abortion: 

  • This week, Senators Warren, Murray, Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced the Health and Location Data Protection Act, legislation that bans data brokers from selling Americans’ health and location data, including the location data of people who visit abortion clinics.
  • On May 17, 2022, Senator Warren led thirteen of her Senate colleagues in letters to two data brokers demanding answers regarding their collection and sale of the cellphone-based location data of people who visit abortion clinics such as Planned Parenthood.
  • On May 10, 2022, Senator Warren delivered remarks on the floor of the Senate on the need to protect the constitutional right to abortion, pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, and fight back against Republican extremism. 
  • On May 9, 2022, Senator Warren wrote an op-ed in Marie Claire about the importance of enshrining the right to an abortion in federal law. 
  • On May 3, 2022, when the draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked, Senator Warren spoke on the steps of the Supreme Court twice to activists, protestors, and the nation about the need to protect abortion rights. 

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