Biden vows to block states trying to restrict women’s access to abortion pills
JOE BIDEN promised to take action to protect women’s rights by fighting to stop states from banning abortion pills, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on Friday.
The US President also warned antiabortion states they would be breaking the law if they stopped women travelling to other parts of the country to reach clinics.
It came as Democrats launched a desperate fightback after America’s top court – now dominated by conservative justices – threw out the 50-year-old ruling guaranteeing abortion as a nationwide constitutional right.
After major protests on Friday, hundreds of protesters again descended on the Supreme Court yesterday, chanting “my body, my choice”.
Several states, including Missouri, Louisiana, Kentucky, Wisconsin and South Dakota, instituted immediate abortion bans, with up to half the US states poised to follow. Mr Biden’s administration indicated it would attempt to prevent anti-abortion states from banning mifepristone, one of the pills used for medical abortions, which are potentially a way for women to continue to access abortion even in states where it is banned.
Federal government lawyers will say the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone in 2000 overrides state restrictions.
Pills were used in 54 per cent of all abortions in the US in 2020, according to Guttmacher Institute research.
Already this week, the governor of Louisiana signed a new law making it punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and a fine of up to $75,000, to bring abortion pills into the state by post.
Mr Biden said attempts to restrict medical abortion would be “wrong and extreme and out of touch with the majority of Americans”.
He added: “The decision [to ban abortion] is implemented by states, and my administration is going to focus on how they administer it, and whether or not they violate other laws – like deciding to not allow people to cross state lines to get public health services.”
Mr Biden, speaking before departing for the G7 summit in Germany, said he thought the Supreme Court decision was “shocking” and “terrible”.
Merrick Garland, Mr Biden’s attorney general, said: “States may not ban mifepristone, based on disagreement with the FDA.”
Meanwhile, the Democratic west coast states of California, Washington and Oregon announced they would be a “safe haven” for women seeking abortions, and pledged to “fight like hell to protect our rights and our values”.
Thousands of supporters of Roe v. Wade demonstrated in big cities including New York, Los Angeles, Washington and Chicago.
In Arizona, police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators from outside the state Capitol. Police said the protesters “repeatedly pounded on the doors of the state senate building” as politicians were forced to hide in a basement.