Texas Dems to Biden: Protect out-of-state providers who prescribe abortion-inducing medication

As the nation continues to navigate the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, several Texas Democrats and abortion advocates called on the Biden administration to take immediate and direct action to protect Texans’ access to abortion. “President Biden can provide a huge amount of support by making sure that you can see a health care provider, call them by phone, talk to them by telehealth, and then have medication abortion sent by mail into the state from a state where abortion is currently not banned,” said Greg Casar, a Democratic candidate for Congress. Also included in that letter were requests to support abortion funds across the country, increase legal protections for reproductive health care providers, establish a program to increase distribution of abortion medication, and invoke the federal government’s supremacy over state laws that conflict with the Food and Drug Administration-approved regimen for medically induced abortions. In asking Biden to declare a public health emergency to protect providers who distribute abortion medication via telehealth, Texas Democrats and abortion rights advocates said that Biden could override the state’s ban of these treatments after 7 weeks of pregnancy by invoking the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act. Caroline Duble, the political director of Avow Texas, an abortion rights advocacy group, called on Biden’s support for medication abortion as one of the last feasible tools for those who can’t travel out of state.