NWLC Reacts to President Biden’s Plan to Expand Abortion and Contraception Protections on Roe Anniversary
Washington, DC – Today, the Biden Administration unveiled plans to enhance access to contraception, medication abortion, and emergency abortions at hospitals.
In response, Gretchen Borchelt, Vice President for Reproductive Rights & Health at the National Women’s Law Center, issued the following statement:
“We applaud the Biden Administration for taking action to safeguard abortion and contraception access on what would have been the 51st anniversary of Roe v Wade. Since the Supreme Court decision to take away our constitutional right to abortion, people nationwide have faced the consequences of restrictive abortion bans and increased healthcare barriers.
The Biden administration’s commitment to expanding no-cost contraception under the Affordable Care Act should put an end to insurance company practices that wrongfully deny contraceptive coverage to individuals, violations we hear about every day on our CoverHer hotline. And the administration’s comprehensive plan to educate patients about their longstanding rights under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) and to support hospitals and providers in complying with their obligations under that law is critical to ensuring that pregnant patients experiencing medical emergencies get the care they need regardless of state abortion bans. We commend the Biden administration for continuing to enforce and defend this critical federal protection against attacks by anti-abortion extremists, as the U.S. Supreme Court gears up to hear Idaho’s challenge to the law this term.
While these administrative actions are critically important, they cannot make up for the loss of our fundamental constitutional right to make our own decisions about our bodies, lives, and futures. We need a new federal right to abortion that guarantees meaningful access to abortion care and stops the chaos that anti-abortion bans are wreaking in lives across the country.”
