For Immediate Release: Wednesday, January 20, 2021
Contact: [email protected]

Washington, DC — Today, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be sworn in—providing a critical opportunity to protect and expand reproductive freedom as we work to undo the damage the Trump administration has done to our fundamental rights. With the help of NARAL members and our organization’s largest-ever electoral program, voters turned out in historic numbers to make their voices heard and send President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris to the White House, electing a ticket that has vowed to fight for reproductive freedom.

“In this moment, our nation desperately needs leadership that is unfailingly committed to democracy and will prioritize our safety, health, and well-being,” said Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. “We at NARAL Pro-Choice America look forward to continuing to work with the Biden-Harris administration to help it fulfill its promises to safeguard and advance reproductive freedom. There’s no time to waste: The Trump administration spent four years fomenting hate, attacking marginalized communities, pushing disinformation, and trampling on our fundamental rights. Now, we must work together to fight for a future where reproductive freedom can truly be a reality for all of us.”

As we turn the page on four years of unyielding attacks on our rights and freedoms we must remain vigilant as threats persist, working on the federal and state level to protect and expand reproductive freedom wherever possible. It’s critical that the Biden-Harris administration demonstrate its commitment to protecting and expanding access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare—including abortion care—and upholding sexual and reproductive rights in the United States and around the world by:

• Expanding access to reproductive healthcare by removing harmful and medically unnecessary restrictions on medication abortion care during COVID-19;
• Initiating a comprehensive FDA review of medication abortion — a safe, effective, FDA-approved option for ending an early pregnancy — so that people’s access to care reflects science, not politics;
• Rescinding Trump’s executive actions limiting access to care, including the dangerous global gag rule, the domestic gag rule and attacks on contraception coverage;
• Ensuring that the president’s budget advances reproductive freedom and excludes discriminatory restrictions on abortion coverage; and
• Nominating and appointing judges and executive branch officials with positive records on reproductive freedom, health, rights, and justice.

On the campaign trail, President-elect Biden outlined his commitment to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom by vowing to work to safeguard Roe v. Wade, only appoint judges who will respect Roe, support the repeal of the racist and discriminatory Hyde Amendment, and use executive action to protect and expand access to abortion and contraception, including by reversing Trump’s global and domestic gag rules.

The Biden-Harris administration heads to the White House at a critical time in the fight for reproductive freedom. Thanks to the Trump administration stacking the courts with judges hostile to reproductive freedom, our fundamental rights are in peril. Anti-choice politicians remain determined to criminalize abortion—putting the advancement of their political goals above the health and well-being of the American people. Just before Election Day, Donald Trump and Senate Republicans jammed through the confirmation of Amy Barrett, a judge with a record of hostility towards the legal right to abortion, to the Supreme Court.

Barrett’s presence on the Court solidifies an anti-choice supermajority on the bench that could threaten our fundamental rights for decades. Dozens of cases that put Roe and access to abortion care at risk are making their way to the Supreme Court. Last week, Justice Barrett and the anti-choice majority on the bench once again demonstrated their hostility towards reproductive freedom when they ruled to reinstate a restriction forcing people to travel to a health center to access medication abortion care during the still-raging COVID-19 pandemic.

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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates and chapters have fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom—including access to abortion, contraception, and paid family leave—for every body. NARAL is powered by its more than 2.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 7 in 10 Americans who believe every person should have the freedom to make the best decision for themselves about if, when, and how to raise a family.