President Biden signs executive order on abortion access
We ran the numbers: There are 3,035 news articles covering this topic. 36% (1,110) are left-leaning, 58% (1,751) are centrist, and 6% (174) are right-leaning.
Amidst pressure from progressives, President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing the Department of Health and Human Services to protect access to medical abortions, contraception, and emergency medical care. While left-leaning articles focus on progressive’s response to the executive order as well as the order’s impact on the upcoming 2022 midterm elections, right-leaning articles focus on Biden’s critiques of the recent decision by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.
A left-leaning article from Politico highlights how progressives view the recently signed executive order as just a “first-step” due to its limited scope, vagueness, and timing. President Biden believes that people must vote to codify abortion rights into law and that the outrage over the overturning of Roe v. Wade will motivate women to turn out in “record numbers” for the upcoming midterm elections.
The Hill published a centrist article reporting how President Biden believes that voting in the midterm elections, and not his executive order, is the best way to enshrine abortion rights into law. Biden stated that “we need two additional pro-choice senators and a pro-choice House to codify Roe as federal law.”
A right-leaning article from the New York Post highlights how President Biden described the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade as “an exercise in raw political power” and a “giant step backwards.” Biden signed the executive order in response to the Supreme Court’s decision and mounting critiques from liberals for not being aggressive enough in defending abortion rights. Despite concern from liberals, the article notes that there exist no current efforts by states to restrict abortion, and state laws preventing women from crossing state boundaries to obtain abortions would be deemed unconstitutional.