Biden says he’s mulling health emergency for abortion access

Advertisement

Advertise with us

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) — President Joe Biden said Sunday he is considering declaring a public health emergency to free up federal resources to promote abortion access even though the White House has said it doesn't seem like “a great option.”

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/07/2022 (1546 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) — President Joe Biden said Sunday he is considering declaring a public health emergency to free up federal resources to promote abortion access even though the White House has said it doesn’t seem like “a great option.”

He also offered a message to people enraged by the Supreme Court’s ruling last month that ended a constitutional right to abortion and who have been demonstrating across the country: “Keep protesting. Keep making your point. It’s critically important.”

The president, in remarks to reporters during a stop on a bike ride near his family’s Delaware beach house, said he lacks the power to force the dozen-plus states with strict restrictions or outright bans on abortion to allow the procedure.

President Joe Biden goes on a bike ride in Gordons Pond State Park in Rehoboth Beach, Del., Sunday, July 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
President Joe Biden goes on a bike ride in Gordons Pond State Park in Rehoboth Beach, Del., Sunday, July 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

“I don’t have the authority to say that we’re going to reinstate Roe v. Wade as the law of the land,” he said, referring to the Supreme Court’s decision from 1973 that had established a national right to abortion. Biden said Congress would have to codify that right and for that to have a better chance in the future, voters would have to elect more lawmakers who support abortion access.

Biden said his administration is trying to do a “lot of things to accommodate the rights of women” after the ruling, including considering declaring a public health emergency to free up federal resources. Such a move has been pushed by advocates, but White House officials have questioned both its legality and effectiveness, and noted it would almost certainly face legal challenges.

The president said he has asked officials “to look at whether I have the authority to do that and what impact that would have.”

On Friday, Jen Klein, the director of the White House Gender Policy Council, said it “didn’t seem like a great option.”

“When we looked at the public health emergency, we learned a couple things: One is that it doesn’t free very many resources,” she told reporters. “It’s what’s in the public health emergency fund, and there’s very little money — tens of thousands of dollars in it. So that didn’t seem like a great option. And it also doesn’t release a significant amount of legal authority. And so that’s why we haven’t taken that action yet.”

___

Associated Press writer Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

May be whiff of truth to ex’s odour ardour

Maureen Scurfield 5 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I ran into an old boyfriend I used to curl on a team with, and we went for drinks. We’ve been almost eight years apart, and I couldn’t remember why we broke up, as we always had such a great time together.

It wasn’t until the second date — this time on a weekend — that it came back to me, with a jolt. Pee-yew! I remembered he doesn’t use deodorant on weekends. Why? He enjoys his own body odour. I recalled that a bit too late, and it was just as awful as ever! I went home early.

Tonight, he called and I refused him another date. I said, “Think back. You remember why we broke up?” Then he said, “Oh yeah, you hated my no-deodorant weekend policy. Well, guess what? Some women don’t mind!” I said I really doubted that, and that ended the conversation. Miss L., wouldn’t any women find stinky underarms offensive?

— Sensitive Nose, Fort Richmond

International flavour: Canadian investors may want to make like Ottawa, diversify beyond U.S.

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Preview

International flavour: Canadian investors may want to make like Ottawa, diversify beyond U.S.

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

Canada is learning the hard way about the dangers of putting too many eggs in its U.S. economic basket.

Much has been made about the need to diversify our economy away from the United States.

Diversification is understandably beneficial. The more varied streams of revenue a nation has, the less affected the economy will be when one of those sources is interrupted.

The same can be said about investment portfolios.

Read
2:01 AM CDT

Tibial tray connected to aerospace sector …

Aaron Epp 6 minute read Preview

Tibial tray connected to aerospace sector …

Aaron Epp 6 minute read Monday, May. 4, 2026

There are thousands — perhaps tens of thousands — of people in the United States who are walking around with Manitoba-made metal parts in their bodies.

After Winnipeg-based manufacturing solutions provider Precision ADM Inc. got started in 2015, one of its first jobs was fabricating U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved tibial trays — a critical component for knee replacement surgery that transmits loads from the femur to the tibia, ensuring stability, alignment and durability over millions of cycles of use.

Manufacturing the tibial trays for a client in the U.S. stands out as a vivid memory for Martin Petrak, the company’s co-founder and president.

“We made something that could go into a human, that should be there for the rest of their life,” he says. “We thought, we’ve finally done something significant here as an organization, as a company, with staff that believed that we could do this.”

Read
Monday, May. 4, 2026

Letters, Oct. 3

7 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

A morning in the life …

My very first lesson does not start when I walk into that lecture hall, oh no — it starts long before. It begins when I walk to my car, check the estimated arrival time to the University of Manitoba and hope that Winnipeg traffic agrees with it.

A drive that appears completely manageable changes almost immediately when I’m greeted by a tsunami of orange pylons and a line of cars that appears to go on forever. Traffic moves by the inch, lanes magically disappear and the detour I took yesterday now has a detour of its own. These factors make me do a calculation that I have become all too familiar with. How late can I arrive and still find parking, run to my class across campus and get to class with enough time left to make it worth it?

I have grown used to people saying, “Why not just leave earlier?” I do. But when I’m already leaving for my 8:30 a.m. class at 7 a.m., there’s only so much I can do. This drive that some would think is relaxing is one that feels like an assignment that I didn’t know I had to complete and is due at 8:30 a.m.

’Disgusting’ posters being investigated by police

Morgan Modjeski 4 minute read 2:22 PM CDT

The Winnipeg Police Service major crimes unit is investigating what some have labelled offensive and hateful posters on full-display at a Winnipeg home.

One of the people irked by the display is Gracie Garrett. She’s has lived on Ashburn Street in Winnipeg’s Minto neighbourhood for almost ten years. She’s never felt unsafe in the neighbourhood before, but now, a set of posters plastered on a nearby house are making her feel uneasy.

The five signs, posted facing the street prominently on a front window, contain a slur, refer to Nazis as “heroes” and call Muslims, Christians and other groups “evil.”

Learning of the signs Friday, Garrett said she’ll be reporting the posters to police, as she worries they incite and promote violence.

Around the NSL: Silano’s spectacular strike; Rapid treading water; Post-season posturing

Grace Anne Paizen 5 minute read Preview

Around the NSL: Silano’s spectacular strike; Rapid treading water; Post-season posturing

Grace Anne Paizen 5 minute read Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026

And just like that, the Northern Super League playoffs are nearly set with only fourth place — and home-field advantage, of course — up for grabs.

AFC Toronto is on a tear, and the Wild continue to terrorize the post-season race. Week 23 was a wild ride — pun intended.

With three weeks of the regular-season schedule remaining, the crystal ball of who has the best chance of taking the Diana B. Matheson Cup has never been cloudier.

And with a pivotal Friday night matchup, here’s an early edition of View from Row Z.

Read
Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026