WASHINGTON – The Biden administration is discussing possible legal and policy options to respond to the Alabama Supreme Court’s in vitro fertilization ruling and support affected Americans in Alabama, as well as other states where access to IVF may be at risk. discussions.
The effort involved officials from the White House, the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Officials said discussions are in the early stages and no decisions have been made.
A source familiar with the discussions cautioned that the administration’s power to take any executive action to protect access to IVF is limited and that much of the fight over the issue will be fought at the political level.
Aides to President Joe Biden are also discussing how he can take advantage of the Alabama decision as he campaigns for re-election, including new ways to talk about reproductive rights, an issue that affects Americans widely. To that end, the officials said, Biden’s team will begin referring to reproductive rights as “a family issue, not just a woman’s issue,” and will argue that Republicans can’t make these decisions for “families.”
Officials said Biden now plans to address access to IVF and the fallout from the Alabama decision, with the White House likely to invite a guest affected by the decision to speak during his March 7 State of the Union address. . Already first lady Jill Biden will host Kate Cox, a 31-year-old Dallas mother who sued to end her illegal pregnancy in Texas, as her State of the Union guest.
The struggle to craft policy, legal and political strategy in the wake of the Alabama decision underscores how crucial the president’s aides believe access to reproductive rights is in the November election. Already, Biden’s aides have drawn up plans to make abortion access a centerpiece of the campaign, arguing that Republicans are trying to erode Americans’ liberties and clearly blaming former President Donald Trump, the GOP front-runner in the polls. .
According to a source familiar with the administration’s deliberations, before the Alabama decision, the White House, Vice President Kamala Harris said Thursday, “we knew that access to IVF was restricted by the courts and had not developed a plan to respond.” In June 2022, the US Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. IVF was always on the table after dropping the lawsuit against Wade.” And officials said the White House was not surprised by Alabama’s decision.
Administration officials are reaching out to stakeholders and advocates, including in Alabama, as they consider possible options. The Biden campaign is also working with abortion rights groups Emily’s List and Reproductive Freedom for All, a campaign official said.
An administration official said IVF was promoted by the Biden administration in Roe v. Wade said it included some executive actions already in place after the repeal, such as protecting patients’ health information and strengthening protections for people who help patients travel for reproductive care.
To underscore the limitations of possible enforcement action, officials noted that the administration could technically clarify the legal rights of providers and patients amid confusion over state laws, but providers and patients could still be denied rights if they live in a state without its laws. federally protected.
Meanwhile, the Biden campaign plans to aggressively highlight the personal stories of Americans affected by the Alabama decision and use the campaign’s surrogate network to bring the issue into focus.
There are active conversations about how senior officials, especially Harris, can publicly message on the issue.
Both the White House and the Biden campaign are closely monitoring the abortion bans in Florida and Georgia and are preparing to react as decisions are made in the coming days.