Biden will speak Friday morning “about protecting access to reproductive health care services,” the sources said. The actions he was expected to outline are intended to try to mitigate some of the potential penalties women seeking abortions may face after the ruling, but are limited in their ability to ensure access to abortion nationwide. Biden is expected to formalize directives to the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services to push efforts to limit women’s ability to access federally approved abortion drugs or travel across state lines to access abortion clinics. The people spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss Biden’s actions before they were officially announced. Biden’s executive order would also direct the agencies to work to educate medical providers and insurers about how and when they are required to share privileged patient information with authorities — an effort to protect women who seek or use abortion services. It will also ask the Federal Trade Commission to take steps to protect the privacy of those seeking reproductive care information online. The order, which comes two weeks after a June 24 Supreme Court ruling that ended nationwide abortion rights and left states to determine whether or how to allow the procedure, comes as Biden has faced criticism from some in his party for inaction with greater urgency to protect women’s access to abortion. The decision in the case known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned the court’s landmark 1973 Roe v. After the ruling, Biden stressed that his ability to protect abortion rights through executive action is limited without congressional action. “Ultimately, Congress will have to act to codify Roe into federal law,” Biden said last week during a mock meeting with Democratic governors. The assignment to the Justice Department and HHS is expected to prompt the agencies to fight in court to protect women, but it provides no guarantee that the court system will side with them against potential prosecution by states that have moved to ban abortions . By SEUNG MIN KIM and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press
