President Biden announced a “whole-of-government effort” on Thursday to fight the latest Texas ban on aborting a child who has a heartbeat.
“I am directing that Council and the Office of the White House Counsel to launch a whole-of-government effort to respond to this decision,” Biden wrote in a statement sent to reporters.
In his statement, Biden proposed using the Department of Health and Human Services and the Justice Department to challenge the Texas law and ensure women’s access to abortions.
The president criticized the Supreme Court for choosing not to rule immediately to block the Texas law, calling it “an unprecedented assault on a woman’s constitutional rights.”
“Rather than use its supreme authority to ensure justice could be fairly sought, the highest Court of our land will allow millions of women in Texas in need of critical reproductive care to suffer while courts sift through procedural complexities,” Biden said.
The Supreme Court voted 5-4 to deny an emergency request for an injunction on enforcing the ban, as challenges to the new law make their way through the lower court system.
Biden said the Supreme Court’s decision “insults the rule of law” because the Texas law “unleashes unconstitutional chaos.”
Both President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris excoriated the Texas abortion law Wednesday, warning it would reduce abortion access for women of color.
“This law will dramatically reduce access to reproductive care for women in Texas, particularly for women with low incomes and women of color,” Harris wrote in a statement.