Biden to sign executive order to expand access to contraception

President Joe Biden will sign an executive order Friday to increase access to birth control and family planning as he seeks to make abortion rights a rallying cry for voters in the 2024 election.

He signs the order on the same day that the three major reproductive rights groups — Planned Parenthood Action Fund, NARAL Pro-Choice America and Emily’s List — supported him and Vice President Kamala Harris for re-election.

In addition, Biden, Harris, Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff will speak Friday afternoon at a political event with those groups — the day before the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Dobbs decision, which overturned the historic decision in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion.

Biden-Harris campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez denounced Donald Trump supporters in her statement on the endorsement.

“Since the Dobbs decision last summer, we’ve seen the horrific impact the extreme MAGA agenda has on women’s health,” she said. “MAGA Republicans” promising a nationwide abortion ban makes re-election of President Biden and Vice President Harris all the more important.”

Biden’s embrace of the issue, which helped Democrats retain the Senate and stave off a GOP landslide in the House of Representatives during the 2022 midterm elections, comes as polls show voters support abortion rights.

Into a new one NBC News Poll, 61% of voters disapprove of the 5-4 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. That includes two-thirds of suburban women, 60% of independents, and even a third of Republican voters — all major voting blockages.

Twenty-five million women of childbearing age now live in states where the law makes abortions more difficult than before the ruling, the Associated Press found.

The executive order that Biden signs will give women more options to access birth control and reduce out-of-pocket costs. It also directs federal departments to consider requiring private insurers to provide expanded birth control options under the Affordable Care Act, such as covering more than one product and streamlining the process for obtaining care.

“Access to contraception has become even more important in the wake of Dobbs and the ensuing crisis in women’s access to health care,” Jennifer Klein, executive director of the White House Gender Policy Council, told reporters during a briefing call.

The order also directs the administration to consider ways to make affordable over-the-counter birth control, including emergency contraception, more accessible, according to a White House fact sheet.

The Affordable Care Act, which became law during the Barack Obama administration, requires coverage of preventive services for women, including free birth control and birth control.

But health plans offered by certain exempt religious employers are not required to cover birth control, and the law requires insurance to cover only one product rather than offering a variety of options.

“We know that some women with private health insurance still face barriers to getting the birth control they need,” Klein said.

There are limits to what Biden can do with his executive power. He has urged Congress to enshrine the right to abortion in law.

Since the Dobbs ruling, 22 states have adopted either bans or highly restrictive policies on abortion.

Vice President Kamala Harris will play an important role alongside Biden in touting the campaign’s support for abortion rights.

She will close the administration’s events on Saturday to mark the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs ruling in Charlotte, NC, where the Republican-led legislature banned most abortions after 12 weeks last month.