After growing pressure from pro-choice advocates, President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order Friday to protect nationwide access to abortion, New York Times reports. Details about this order are unclear, but it is believed to protect access to reproductive health care, amplify outreach and education and organize private lawyers to represent abortion patients. This order is also said to protect patient privacy.
Previously, Biden said that he does not have the power to restore the constitutional right to abortion. Instead, he said it was up to Congress to restore protections. However, pro-choice activists pushed for Biden to find ways to protect abortion access. Some activists asked Biden to protect abortion access on federal lands, such as Native American reservations, however, Biden said this would not be possible. Karine Jean-Pierre, Biden’s press secretary, declined to comment on the executive order, saying that she did not want to “get ahead of the president.”