Biden administration mulls public health emergency declaration on abortion

Ian Miles Cheong

The Biden administration is reportedly considering a possible public health emergency declaration on the topic of abortion, according to a Monday report by Axios.

In an interview with the outlet, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra noted that “there are discussions on a wide range of measures … that we can take to try to protect people’s rights.”

Becerra stated that while a “full assessment” of the declaration has not been conducted yet, “there is nonetheless an evaluation” of it.

A spokesperson for HHS told Axios:

We are constantly exploring additional actions we can take to protect and expand access to reproductive health care, including abortion care, and are prioritizing the actions that can give us the highest impact and most durable solutions.

Last summer, Democratic legislators penned a letter to President Joe Biden and Becerra, asking them to make a National Emergency declaration, as well as a “Public Health Emergency declaration on abortion access.”

The letter alleged that the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade had “precipitated a full-scale reproductive health crisis across our nation,” and had “plunged our health system into a state of uncertainty and upheaval that threatens patients’ lives.”

At the time, the White House was reportedly considering issuing a public health order that would allow people across the country to still be able to obtain abortion pills, Politico reported.

“When we looked at the public health emergency, we learned a couple things. One is that it doesn’t free very many resources. It’s what’s in the public health emergency fund, and there’s very little money — tens of thousands of dollars in it,” said Jen Klein, Director of the White House Gender Policy Council. “So that didn’t seem like a great option. And it also doesn’t release a significant amount of legal authority. And so that’s why we haven’t taken that action.”