Biden Issues Presidential Memorandum To Protect Abortion Pills

Fox News: Biden Issues Memorandum To Protect Access To Abortion Pills 
President Biden issued a presidential memorandum Sunday on what would have been the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade in an effort to protect access to abortion pills across the country. Vice President Kamala Harris made the announcement during her remarks in Florida as she spoke on the administration's efforts to expand abortion rights. "Members of our Cabinet and our administration are now directed as of the president's order to identify barriers to access to prescription medication and to recommend actions to make sure that doctors can legally prescribe, that pharmacies can dispense and that women can secure safe and effective medication," Harris said during her remarks in Tallahassee, Florida. (Chi-Sing, 1/22)

Bloomberg: White House Will Protect Abortion Pill Access, Harris Says
Harris spoke in Florida, a likely battleground state in the 2024 presidential race, and more specifically in Tallahassee, the capital, where Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a measure banning abortion after 15 weeks. DeSantis is considered a leading candidate for the Republican nomination — and Biden has said he intends to seek a second term. (Jacobs, 1/22)

NPR: VP Harris Calls For Federal Abortion Protections On Roe V. Wade 50th Anniversary
Vice President Kamala Harris commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision by imploring Americans to work to enshrine abortion rights into law. "For nearly 50 years, Americans relied on the rights that Roe protected," Harris said at a speech delivered in Tallahassee, Fla., on Sunday. "Today, however, on what would have been its 50th anniversary, we speak of the Roe decision in the past tense." (Heyward, 1/22)

In updates on the Supreme Court leak —

CNN: Supreme Court: Lead Investigator On Dobbs Leak Makes Clear She Spoke To All Nine Justices
The Supreme Court marshal who investigated last year’s leak of a draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade has revealed that she spoke to all nine justices and found nothing to implicate them or their spouses. Friday’s remarks by Marshal Gail Curley come after the court’s investigative report on the leak, which was released Thursday, did not specify whether justices had been interviewed, leading to questions as to whether investigators had considered their potential role. (de Vogue, 1/21)

The New York Times: Inside The Supreme Court Inquiry: Seized Phones, Affidavits And Distrust
Last spring and summer, employees of the Supreme Court were drawn into an investigation that turned into an uncomfortable awakening. As the court marshal’s office looked into who had leaked the draft opinion of the decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion, law clerks who had secured coveted perches at the top of the judiciary scrambled for legal advice and navigated quandaries like whether to surrender their personal cellphones to investigators. (Kantor, 1/21)

In other abortion news —

KHN: Abortion Debate Ramps Up In States As Congress Deadlocks 
Anti-abortion advocates are pressing for expanded abortion bans and tighter restrictions since the Supreme Court overturned the national right to abortion. But with the debate mostly deadlocked in Washington, the focus is shifting to states convening their first full legislative sessions since Roe v. Wade was overturned. Although some state GOP lawmakers have filed bills to ban abortion pills or make it more difficult for women to travel out of state for an abortion, others seem split about what their next steps should be. Some are even considering measures to ease their states’ existing bans somewhat, particularly after Republicans’ less-than-stellar showing in the 2022 midterm elections and voters’ widespread support for abortion on state ballot measures. (Rovner, 1/23)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Groups Push Georgia Lawmakers To Completely Ban Abortion
Drawing a slightly smaller crowd than in previous years, anti-abortion advocates gathered outside the Georgia Capitol on Friday to stress that last year’s overturning of Roe v. Wade was not enough — they want a total ban on abortion. The annual event organized by Georgia Right to Life is held to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the now-moot U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade that guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion. (Prabhu, 1/20)

The Texas Tribune: In Texas’ First Post-Roe Legislative Session, There’s A New Political Power Dynamic On Abortion
For decades, the abortion battle lines in the Texas Legislature were as clearly drawn as they were deeply entrenched. Every two years, Republicans would try to find new and novel ways to outwit Roe v. Wade, while Democrats relied on the courts as a bulwark against further restrictions. But now, the deed is done, the war is won and abortion is almost entirely banned in Texas. The number of monthly legal abortions in the state has dwindled into the low single digits. (Klibanoff, 1/23)

Reuters: Judge Rules For Florida's DeSantis Against Prosecutor For Abortion Stance 
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, considered a possible 2024 Republican presidential contender, will not be forced to reinstate an elected state prosecutor he suspended over his pledge not to bring criminal cases against people seeking or providing abortions, a federal judge ruled on Friday. U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle in the state capital, Tallahassee, ruled against prosecutor Andrew Warren, a Democrat, in his lawsuit seeking to be reinstated as head of the state attorney's office in Tampa. DeSantis on Aug. 4 barred Warren from performing any official "act, duty or function of public office." (Scarcella, 1/20)

NPR: Post-Roe, Abortion Providers Are Shifting Their Strategies
The CHOICES clinic in Memphis, Tenn., opened in 1974 in direct response to the Roe v. Wade decision a year earlier. When the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would take up the Dobbs case, CHOICES president and CEO Jennifer Pepper says it was clear what was coming. "We knew immediately that meant we would lose abortion access in Tennessee in the next 12 months, and so we began to plan," Pepper says. "It has been a wild ride." (McCammon, 1/22)

MPR News: Minnesota, Seen As Abortion Haven, Still Funds ‘Crisis Pregnancy Centers’
Fifty years after Roe v. Wade was decided and seven months after it was overturned, Gov. Tim Walz is set to debut his latest budget that may include the possible end of a little-known 18-year-old program that supports “crisis pregnancy centers,” which are non-medical anti-abortion organizations that deceive pregnant people and discourage abortion. (Stroozas, 1/23)