Biden consults governors on abortion access
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul urged President Biden to consider providing abortions to the public on federal property in states that ban the procedure — a proposal the White House has dismissed as untenable.
“We’d ask that you’d consider your ability to use federal facilities,” Hochul told Biden on Friday during a White House brainstorming session with Democratic governors aimed at identifying options for protecting women’s access to abortion.
A week after the Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, Biden is under mounting pressure to respond more forcefully. Nearly two dozen Democratic senators wrote Biden last weekend asking him to explore the “types of reproductive health services that could be provided on federal property.”
But a White House official said the proposal, while well intentioned, risked putting women and providers in legal jeopardy in state courts. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity. Biden didn’t directly respond to Hochul’s idea during the public portion of Friday’s session.
Hochul cited veterans’ hospitals, military bases, “and other places where the federal government controls the jurisdiction” in states that “are hostile to women’s rights” as potential venues where the Biden administration should step in.
The New York governor said it was “a frightening time for women all across our nation.”
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she too wanted the federal government to allow abortions on federal lands, citing Indian Health Service Clinics as one possible venue.
Lujan Grisham has signed an executive order aimed at maintaining abortion access and protecting providers from attempts by other states to pursue civil or criminal charges. Last year, New Mexico repealed a 1969 law that would have criminalzed abortion if Roe v. Wade was overturned.
“We are in fact that brick wall against this horrific Supreme Court decision,” Lujan Grisham said Friday.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said his state, because of its location in the Southeast, is already seeing an influx of women seeking abortion services.
“Your zip code should not determine your rights,” said Cooper, who pledged to veto any effort by the state’s Republican Legislature to curtail abortion access.
At least 22 states have fully outlawed or significantly restricted access to abortion, with others likely to move quickly in that direction after the court’s ruling.
Biden has repeatedly stressed there’s little his administration can do unless more lawmakers who support abortion rights are elected to Congress.
Incremental steps the administration has taken in response to the ruling include new guidance the Department of Health and Human Services issued Wednesday telling health care providers they are not required to — and often legally prohibited from — disclosing private health care information related to abortion and other sexual and reproductive health care, including to law enforcement.
Separately, the White House is preparing a letter from Biden asking the Federal Trade Commission to protect women’s privacy when they seek information about or disclose personal data related to reproductive health care.