President Biden Signs Order Restoring Reproductive Healthcare

“The choice we face as a nation is between the mainstream and the extreme, between moving forward and moving backward, between allowing politicians to enter the most personal parts of our lives and protecting the right to privacy embedded in our Constitution.”

                      President Joe Biden, July 8, 2022, in signing the Executive Order

In response to the Court overturning the Roe and Casey decisions, President Biden signed an Executive Order on July 8 to protect women’s lives concerning reproductive healthcare.

This includes safeguarding patient access to long-standing approved abortion pills, emergency contraception methods, protecting patient privacy, bolstering security for health clinics, providing education of patient options and rights, and coordinating federal agencies (including HHS, Justice and others) to protect access and defend reproductive rights throughout the country.

At this time a declaration of health emergency is not part of the Order because it was feared that it would make the Order more susceptible to overturning by the court system.

As President Biden explained in his signing statement, the Executive Order cannot be a permanent solution to restore reproductive rights, but it is a first step to address chaos across the country. He also reminded us that the only reason for this Supreme Court overturning Roe was a change in the extreme views of the Court itself, it was not a change of circumstances in women’s healthcare.

A permanent resolution requires a vote of Congress to codify the pro-choice rights of the original Roe decision -- both the House and the Senate would need to approve such a bill to send for President Biden’s signature.

Codification is possible but doubtful before the 2022 election because it would require special-purpose repeal of the Senate filibuster which is not likely. Although there are 2 Republican Senators (Murkowsky and Collins) who are somewhat sympathetic to codifying Roe, they are not enough to overcome a Republican filibuster.

To enable President Biden to achieve codification we have to VOTE big this November. We must retain our Democratic majority in the U.S. House and add at least two pro-choice Democratic Senators to the U.S. Senate. Then we can repeal the filibuster rules for laws we need to pass and put those laws on President Biden’s desk post-haste.

On our Estes Valley ballots this means overwhelming votes needed for the re-election of both Senator Michael Bennet and for our Representative Joe Neguse.

And to continue making our statement, we need to vote for ALL Democrats on our ballot. They are ALL important to keep our Country, State and County moving in the right direction. Plus they are essential in enforcing the many components of the Order -- as well as enforcing our Colorado specific legislation "The Reproductive Health Equity Act" passed in March 2022.

• Our State Officials: Governor Jared Polis, Secretary of State Jena Griswold, Attorney General Phil Weiser, and Treasurer Dave Young, plus our new At-Large State Board of Education Candidate Kathy Plomer
• Our Legislators: Janice Marchman, SD 15, and Judy Amabile, HD 49
• Our County Officials: Commissioner John Kefalas, Assessor Bob Overbeck, Clerk & Recorder Toni Baker, and Coroner Stephen Hanks