WH Backs Abortion Legislation Modeled on Voting Rights Act – By Phillip Wegmann (Real Clear Politics) / January 28 2021
Two days after President Biden’s inauguration, on the 48th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the White House released a boilerplate statement on abortion rights. Mostly overlooked, because it was expected, the brief press release was an unmistakable mile marker in the transition from a Republican administration that fancied itself the most anti-abortion in history and a Democratic replacement that could become the most pro-abortion yet.
Biden quickly reversed the so-called Mexico City policy, barring U.S. tax dollars from funding nongovernment organizations that provide abortions overseas. He also signaled his opposition to the Hyde Amendment, a longstanding policy that prohibits federal funding of abortion.
But at a moment when individual states are moving to limit abortion accessibility, will Biden go further? Does he support an abortion rights law modeled after the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a statute empowering the Department of Justice to root out abortion restrictions the way the department rooted out Jim Crow?
Vice President Kamala Harris proposed just such an approach as a presidential primary season candidate, and while White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki didn’t have an update on that policy last week, she told RealClearPolitics, “Obviously, her policies are the policies of the Biden-Harris administration.”
