Without a federal law to defend reproductive rightsincluding the freedom to decide on abortion, President Joe Biden’s government has implemented executive orders to guarantee some rights, following the Supreme Court decision in 2022.
“First of all [se ha buscado] Ensure women receive the care they need in an emergency“Jen Klein, director of the White House Gender Policy Council, highlighted in an interview. “The second protection acts on abortion with a safe and effective FDA-approved medication, defending in court the right to travel for medical care, supporting access to reproductive health care for military service members and veterans, expanding access to affordable contraceptives and, finally, strengthening privacy protections for patients and doctors.”
The Latino population, the Biden Administration recognizes, is one of the groups that has defended the right to decide about their own body. This is not a political speech, since 54% of Latinos support that there is a federal law to protect the right to abortion, according to a recent poll by the Intelligence Center of My Code for La Opinión.
“The vast majority of voters, including Latino voters, agree that abortion should remain legalregardless of your personal beliefs on the subject,” Klein said.
Questioned about what is happening in some states that have made decisions to restrict abortion, such as Arizona and Texas, Klein highlights that Latino populations have made their position clear to defend civil rights.
“People are concerned, you know, because of what we’ve seen in Arizona, for example, you know, a law from 1864 went back into effect. And that law is still in force, in the end it will be replaced by a 15-week abortion ban, but there will still be a 15-week abortion ban,” the expert highlighted. “There is a ballot initiative up for grabs in November that would enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution. And, you know, Latino voters have spoken loud and clear. That’s what they want. “They want the freedom to make their own decisions.”
Reproductive rights and abortion stand out among the five issues that most concern Latino voters, in addition to the economy, jobs and immigration.
The Supreme Court changed course
Two years ago, the Supreme Court decided on the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organizationwhich led to the cancellation of Roe v. Wade (1973), which guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion.
However, States can have legislation to protect the right to abortionalthough several Republican governments have promoted laws against it.
“What happened almost two years ago, when the Dobbs decision was made and Roe v. Wade was overturned, is that for the first time in American history, people lost a constitutional right and they lost fundamental constitutional rights. ”Klein considered. “And what that has meant for women and for people across this country is that we are seeing a devastating impact. “So what happened after the Bobbs decision was adopted is that states continued to pass extreme abortion bans across the country.”
He added that two years after the Supreme Court decision, 27 million women of reproductive age in the United States live in one of the 21 states that currently prohibit abortion.
“That boils down to more than one in three women of reproductive age in this country,” the official said. “In those states, Doctors can be charged with a felony simply for doing their job and simply provide the care they believe their patients need. In Texas, for example, a doctor could be sentenced to life in prison for performing an abortion, and women are denied essential medical care to preserve their health and save their lives.”
Klein highlighted that the 2022 decision has forced women who want to adhere to their right to abortion to travel to other entities.
In fact, a recent report from the Center for American Progress (CAP) maps these trips and highlights, for example, that at the national level, the average driving time in electoral districts for a woman with at least six weeks of pregnancy reaching an abortion clinic increased by 300 percent.
“Since Florida’s six-week abortion ban went into effect, the average driving time to a clinic has gone from 22 minutes to nine hours and eight minutes one way,” the CAP notes in its report. “The top five states with the largest percentage change in driving times since the fall of Roe v. Wade are Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama and Georgia.”
All of those states are governed by Republicans.
New challenges in reproductive rights
Klein highlights that the Supreme Court’s decision has established new challenges in reproductive rights, especially due to the differences established by each entity.
“The Supreme Court determined that the decision and the right to make or the ability to make decisions rightfully rests with the states,” Klein said. “And we think exactly the opposite, which is, if you look at what’s happened in states across the country, we don’t think leaving it up to the states, quote, unquote, is a good idea.”
She added that so far at least 21 states have made it difficult for women to receive emergency medical care or have criminalized the use of anti-abortion pills.
“The president said this on the day the decision was made, not nearly two years ago, that the only way to replace the critical constitutional race that was lost when Roe was overturned, is to pass federal legislation that would restore the protections of Roe v. Wade,” the official said. “That’s why he and the administration have been asking Congress to do that. And he has promised that he will sign that law as soon as it reaches his desk.”
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