|
Biden, a Democrat and a Catholic who has shifted to the left on
abortion in recent years to be more in line with his party's
base, called the law that bans any abortion after six weeks an
"unprecedented assault on a woman's constitutional rights."
The president said in a statement he was directing the office of
the White House counsel and his Gender Policy Council to review
how the government could "ensure that women in Texas have access
to safe and legal abortions... and what legal tools we have to
insulate women and providers from the impact of Texas’ bizarre
scheme of outsourced enforcement to private parties."
The White House will specifically look at what measures can be
taken through the Department of Health and Human Services and
the Department of Justice, Biden said.
The White House has called for the "codification" of abortion
rights that are currently protected by the court's 1973 Roe v.
Wade decision through legislation in Congress, but has not
outlined any specific steps that it is taking to back any such
law.
A plurality of Americans believe that abortion should be legal
up until the fetus is capable of living on its own, and they
remain largely supportive of Roe v. Wade, a Reuters/Ipsos poll
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/plurality-americans-would-strike-down-mississippi-abortion-ban-2021-06-24
in June showed. The responses are split along party lines, with
70% of Democrats, 35% of Republicans and 47% of independents
agreeing abortion should be legal in most or all cases.
Biden's Democrats have control of the U.S. Senate and House of
Representatives with slim majorities and he is seeking to push
through legislation on infrastructure and other Democratic
priorities in the coming weeks.
The House will debate and vote on legislation stopping states
from enacting restrictive anti-abortion regulations like the one
just approved by Texas, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; additional reporting by Susan Heavey;
Editing by Heather Timmons and Alistair Bell)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
