President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order that would allow states to file for Medicaid waivers to assist patients seeking abortions who have to travel across state lines for reproductive health care because their home states have oppressive abortion bans, the Washington Post reports.
The move comes one day after voters in Kansas summarily rejected an attempt by the state’s Republicans to outright ban all abortions by a nearly 3-to-2 margin, a significant victory for pro-choice advocates in a deeply Red state.
“[Republicans] don’t have a clue about the power of American women. Last night in Kansas, they found out,” Biden said Wednesday at the signing ceremony, adding, “The [Supreme Court] has made clear it will not protect the rights of women — period. Period. After having made the decision based on a reading of a document that was frozen in time in the 1860s when women didn’t even have the right to vote, the court now practically dares the women of America to go to the ballot box and restore the very rights they’ve just taken away.”
The order directs Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to find ways for DHHS to ensure women can access reproductive health care regardless of the rules in their home states. The order also provides DHHS with resources to help providers figure out the increasing complex laws being implemented by Red state governors to restrict pregnant patients’ access to abortion and other care.