The nominal ways Biden could expand abortion rights

And President Biden can’t do much on his own. Of codifying abortion rights into federal law, he said: “No executive action from the president can do that.”

But is there anything he can do around the edges? This month, the White House met with abortion rights and reproductive rights groups to brainstorm possible actions the executive branch can take.

Some possibilities that abortion rights supporters are floating include:

Make abortion medication easier to access: The federal government has already made it easier for women to get abortion pills by mail or prescribed by telemedicine. And the government doesn’t require that women take them only in clinical settings. But only certain providers can prescribe mifepristone, one of two necessary pills for a medical abortion. The federal government could change the guidelines to allow any medical provider to write a prescription for this medication and could expand the pharmacies where it can be picked up, said Elizabeth Nash, an abortion law expert with the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research organization that supports abortion rights.

Mailed abortion pills became more popular even before the fall of Roe. As The Post’s Caroline Kitchener reports, an Austria-based group that mails abortion pills to all 50 U.S. states said orders from Texas increased by 1,000 percent when that state enacted its six-week ban in the fall. (Overseas pharmacies aren’t beholden to U.S. law.)

The Post reports that some abortion rights advocates are pushing the government to make abortion pills available over the counter but that such a move is unlikely because in some cases, the pills can cause heavy bleeding that requires medical assistance.

Also, some states are considering banning these pills outright. And the Supreme Court could limit the federal government’s ability to override those state bans, said Leah Litman, a law professor at the University of Michigan who supports abortion rights and is host of the Supreme Court podcast “Strict Scrutiny.”

Help with travel to get an abortion: America will be starkly divided between red states that restrict or outlaw abortion and blue states that move to codify abortion protections. The Biden administration could provide grants to those needing an abortion so they can travel to a state where the procedure is legal, or they can help parents with child care. That cost is often a major impediment for women left with only out-of-state options.

Already, the corporate world is considering this. Almost immediately after the Supreme Court announced its decision, Disney said it will cover the cost of employees traveling out of state to get abortions.

But the Biden administration would have to ensure that any such travel grant didn’t violate the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal funds for abortion. (The military provides abortions for pregnancy resulting from rape or incest or that would endanger the mother’s life. On Friday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he was reviewing the decision and what it meant for military families stationed in states that restrict abortion rights even further.)

Help people understand abortion law in their states: The post-Roe landscape is confusing. State by state, the rules on where abortion is available and at what stage of a pregnancy are changing. The Biden administration has set up a website to help people navigate all this. But that’s probably as far as the administration can go in helping people obtain abortions, Litman said. She thinks anything further would violate the Hyde Amendment.

A reproductive rights activist — speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss conversations with the White House — said she has urged the White House to do a full-court press on how women can access abortion care, like the White House did for coronavirus vaccines and covid-19 care. “There is a huge amount of misinformation out there,” she said, “and the federal government and executive branch can play a critical role in making sure people know how to access care.”

Clarify existing law on when someone can get reported for having an abortion: Nash said that as more people try to perform abortions under the radar, more people may end up in emergency rooms. Federal law does not require medical providers to call police when a patient violates state law by attempting an abortion when it is banned. Health-care workers don’t have to report that, she said, and the Biden administration could make that clear — to both health-care workers and women who might seek medical care after attempting an abortion.

On the other end of the spectrum, the administration is considering warning Americans who use apps to track their menstrual cycles that their data can be used to determine when someone is in the early stages of pregnancy, the New York Times reports.

Consider ways to expand other reproductive rights: Specifically, Nash said, the federal government — and state governments — could find ways to expand access to contraception, pregnancy care and sex education, so that women in conservative states who aren’t allowed to have an abortion have more resources.

Here, there could be some room for bipartisan action. Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), who, like most Republicans, celebrated the fall of Roe, is introducing legislation focused on this. He said in a statement that the government needs to expand the child tax credit for working families. And he wants more federal support to help mothers carry a pregnancy to term: “Expectant mothers — especially those who are surprised by, and unprepared for, pregnancy — require additional support in the form of mentorship, counseling, medical care and more,” he said.

Nominate federal judges with background in abortion rights cases: Along with the confusing legal landscape will come lawsuits, lots of them. In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) has asked the state’s Supreme Court to invalidate a 1930s law banning abortion in the state. In Ohio, the state’s Republican attorney general is working with the courts to try to reinstate a 2019 law banning abortion at six weeks of pregnancy; liberal groups are challenging it, report The Post’s Annie Linskey and Colby Itkowitz.