The US President Biden today signed an executive order to facilitate women seeking abortions with federal funding during travel between states.
The details of the order are being worked out as the Biden administration faces a challenging legal scenario because in the United States, it is not illegal to use federal funding to pay for abortions till the time the life of a woman is in danger or the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.
The White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre explained the new order saying the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) would invite states where abortion is legal to apply for permission to use Medicaid funds to “offer reproductive healthcare to women living in states where abortion is banned”.
Like Biden’s first order signed in July, it is to address the recent Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade which opened new restrictions on abortion at the state level in the United States.
The National Abortion Federation said it has seen more women asking for help travelling to get the procedure in the month after the decision. The organisation paid for 76 hotel rooms and booked 52 bus or plane trips, up from only a handful in the same time period last year.
Biden’s order also calls on healthcare providers to follow the federal non-discrimination laws and streamline the key data on maternal health at the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
