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Senior White House officials, who have been meeting with state
legislators after the U.S. Supreme Court in June ended the
constitutional right to abortion, will meet elected officials
from Kansas, New York, Maryland, North Carolina and Delaware,
senior administration officials said.
The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) will release a
report, mandated by an executive order signed by Biden, that
builds on previously announced measures such as tackling
medication abortion and protecting patient privacy.
HHS will also issue a letter to state governors emphasizing
healthcare providers must offer abortion services if the life of
a mother is at risk and that such procedures would be protected
under federal law, the officials said.
The White House recently launched a three-prong push to protect
abortion access, first reported by Reuters, that leans on two
federal statutes to target states that limit abortion,
communicates to voters the impact on women, and accentuates how
forced pregnancies harm both women and men.
A federal judge on Wednesday blocked Idaho from enforcing a ban
on abortions when pregnant women require emergency care, a day
after a judge in Texas ruled against the Biden administration on
the same issue. The conflicting rulings came in two of the first
lawsuits over Biden's attempts to keep abortion legal.
About half of U.S. states have or are expected to seek to ban or
curtail abortions following the Supreme Court ruling.
A new Pew Research Center poll this week showed abortion
rocketing up as a priority for Democratic voters — from 46
percent in March to 71 percent today.
A decisive victory for abortion rights in deeply conservative
Kansas and a win on Tuesday for a New York Democrat who
campaigned on abortion rights in a swing district have boosted
Democrats' hopes they can harness voter anger over the issue to
prevail in competitive races during the midterm elections in
November.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose and Ahmed Aboulenein in Washington;
editing by Richard Pullin)
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