The next abortion fight is over state lines
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 8 July 2022
⏱️ 27 minutes
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Summary
The president is taking steps to safeguard abortion access, even as some lawmakers are talking about blocking patients from seeking the procedure across state lines. Today on “Post Reports,” we explore abortion’s next legal battleground.
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Two weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending constitutional protection to abortion in the United States, President Biden signed an executive order aimed at safeguarding abortion rights. This includes measures to ensure access to abortion medication and emergency contraception, protecting patient privacy, and bolstering legal options for those seeking access to such care.
These measures will potentially help people who already face obstacles to getting an abortion. But they’re also a defense against new laws that could be coming in antiabortion states. Some antiabortion lawmakers are looking to prevent people from traveling to other states to obtain abortions. Caroline Kitchener brings us behind the scenes with some of the key players in the interstate legal fight.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is a moment. The moment, the moment we restore the rights that have been taken away |
| 0:08.6 | from us, and the moment to protect our nation from the extremist agenda that is antithetical |
| 0:14.6 | to everything we believe as Americans. |
| 0:18.4 | Today, President Biden signed an executive order that's supposed to protect access to |
| 0:23.3 | abortion care and reproductive health services. In his speech, Biden said that he's taking |
| 0:29.1 | steps to make sure that people will still be able to get abortion medication, as well |
| 0:33.8 | as emergency contraception. And he's directing the government to offer legal support to people |
| 0:39.8 | seeking or providing abortions. |
| 0:42.1 | I'm asking the Justice Department that much like they did in the civil rights here to |
| 0:47.4 | do something to everything in their power, to protect these women seeking to invoke their |
| 0:52.9 | rights. In states where clinics are still open, to protect them from intimidation, to |
| 0:58.9 | protect the right of women to travel from state to prohibits seeking medical attention, |
| 1:04.2 | as she needs to state to provide that care. |
| 1:08.0 | These measures are aimed at helping people who already face obstacles to getting an abortion, |
| 1:13.1 | but they're also a defense against new laws that are expected to come in anti-abortion |
| 1:17.4 | states. |
| 1:18.8 | One of the first questions right away that I started asking when I took this job on in December |
| 1:24.8 | was, what if Roe is overturned? What then? Caroline Kitchener covers abortion for the post. |
| 1:35.2 | And something that anti-abortion lawmakers have said to me from the very beginning is, |
| 1:41.5 | it doesn't end there. They believe that abortion is murder, and they're not okay with abortion |
| 1:51.1 | and their mind's murder being legal in half the states. It needs to be banned everywhere. |
| 1:58.4 | And they are not going to stop until it is. And there's been a lot of discussion about |
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