Biden Begins to Restore Pre-Trump Status Quo with Administrative Action on Reproductive Health – Young People Say More is Needed
(Washington, DC) — Statement from Kimberly Inez McGuire, Executive Director of URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity in response to the Biden-Harris Administration’s executive actions on sexual and reproductive health.
“Today, the Biden-Harris Administration took steps to address some of the Trump–Pence Administration’s damage to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and undo some of their appalling sexual and reproductive health policies.”
“While we applaud the administration’s actions: to revoke the global gag rule, open Medicaid enrollment under the ACA, withdraw from the anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ Geneva Consensus Declaration, and plans to restore Title X contraception funding, we are here to remind them: there is much more work to be done.”
“Black women, people of color, queer and trans folks, and families with low incomes are facing multiple crises: a deadly pandemic, economic devastation, and systemic racism. At the same time, abortion access is vanishing. The racist Hyde Amendment continues to deny abortion coverage to families pushed to the economic brink and hundreds of abortion restrictions combine to render the legal right to end a pregnancy meaningless for many. The Biden-Harris Administration must listen to those most harmed by reproductive oppression and take swift action. Returning to the pre-Trump status quo is not enough.”
URGE has called on the Biden-Harris Administration to:
- Boldly and publicly support ending the racist and classist Hyde Amendment
- Demand the Department of Health and Human Services rescind the Title X domestic gag rule
- End restrictions on the ACA’s birth control coverage benefit and expand the benefit to include abortion coverage
- Immediately lift unnecessary restrictions on medication abortion
- Submit a budget to Congress free from all abortion coverage restrictions
“I implore President Biden: young people of color have given you a mandate to lead the nation. Now you must honor our communities’ struggles and demands with proactive, sweeping policies like those outlined in the Blueprint for Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice and URGE’s Young People’s Reproductive Justice Policy Agenda.”
“We look forward to working with the White House Gender Policy Council and Congress to implement a bold, progressive agenda that moves us far beyond the status quo and protects the lives and futures of young people who have already waited too long for justice.”
