SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Department of Health and Human Services secretary Xavier Becerra shared on Monday that there is a possibility the Biden administration declares a public health emergency on abortion.
Becerra shared the possibility while speaking to Axios, saying they are discussing a “wide range of measures” on protecting “people’s rights.”
“There are certain criteria that you look for to be able to declare a public health emergency,” Becerra said. “That’s typically done by scientists and those that are professionals in those fields who will tell us whether we are in a state of emergency, and based on that, I have the ability to make a declaration.”
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Whether or not a declaration is made, lawmakers have already requested Biden do so.
More than 80 House Democrats penned a letter to Biden in July, following the Supreme court overturning Roe v. Wade, asking him to make the declaration, The Washington Post reported at the time.
Lawmakers said in the letter that doing so would allow the administration to help states where abortions are legal, as they are seeing an influx of out-of-state patients seeking an abortion.
Becerra shared that as those who are qualified are evaluating the issue, they are waiting for a “full assessment” to be completed before a decision is made.
If a public health emergency was declared, patients seeking an abortion out-of-state or looking for abortion medication would have a far easier time doing so.
Lawmakers predicted in July that the move from the Supreme Court and state governments that subsequently banned abortions after its ruling had caused “unprecedented strain on limited resources and delaying care for residents” in states where abortions are still legally protected.
Still, not everyone is on board with the idea, as Jen Klein, the director of the White House Gender Policy Council, said in July that the idea did not “seem like a great option.”
“When we looked at the public health emergency, we learned a couple things,” Klein said during a news briefing. “One is that it doesn’t free very many resources. It’s what’s in the public health emergency fund, and there’s very little money — tens of thousands of dollars in it. So that didn’t seem like a great option. And it also doesn’t release a significant amount of legal authority. And so that’s why we haven’t taken that action yet.”
An HHS spokesperson then confirmed that other alternatives are also being considered.
“We are constantly exploring additional actions we can take to protect and expand access to reproductive health care, including abortion care, and are prioritizing the actions that can give us the highest impact and most durable solutions,” the spokesperson told Axios.
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