Abortion Is Absolutely on the Ballot in 2024: Here’s What the White House Wants You to Know
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I won’t try to sugarcoat it: Things are pretty bleak on the reproductive justice front here in 2024. Just last month, we were informed that embryos sitting in Alabama fertility freezers have more bodily autonomy than full-fledged humans with uteruses. This is on top of the fact that 21 states have enacted abortion bans, affecting more than 27 million women of reproductive age and that Republicans keep threatening national restrictions. The general gist: If you have a uterus, someone you don’t know is trying to tell you what to do with it.
Honestly, we can’t blame anyone who wants to check out completely until 2025. But if you ask the Biden administration (which we did), there’s reason for optimism. On the heels of Vice President Kamala Harris’s historic visit to an abortion clinic, Jen Klein, director of the first-ever White House Gender Policy Council—created by the Biden administration to deal with issues of reproductive health and gender equity—spoke exclusively with Cosmopolitan about their efforts to protect and even expand reproductive rights in the face of a hostile Supreme Court. Read our conversation below.
Can you share what the Biden administration—and specifically the Gender Policy Council—has been doing to fight for abortion rights since the Dobbs decision overturned Roe? In what ways do you hope to keep pushing this agenda forward in 2024?
The President himself has been quite clear, within hours of Dobbs coming down, that Congress must pass a federal law restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade, as that’s the only way to secure access to abortion for all people in every state. But in the meantime, he was also quite clear that we needed to do whatever we could through executive action to defend reproductive rights. The President established a task force on reproductive health care access, which I cochair alongside Secretary Becerra, the head of the Department of Health and Human Services. Just a few examples of the work that we’ve done over the course of the last year: protecting access to safe and effective medication abortion1, which accounts for more than half of the abortions in the U.S., defending the right to travel for medical care in another state, expanding access to affordable contraception, strengthening privacy protections for patients and doctors, and finally, supporting access to reproductive health care for service members and veterans.
We’re also continuing to partner with state leaders who are on the front lines of this fight. So far, the Vice President has led those efforts on her reproductive freedom tour, traveling to 20 states and meeting with more than 250 state legislators, health care providers, and advocates. We’ve seen in states across the country that whenever citizens are able to make their voices heard through ballot initiatives, they’ve spoken loudly and clearly that they want reproductive freedom and their reproductive rights.
1. Medication abortion is legal in 36 states and Washington, D.C., restricted in 15 of those states (where it must be prescribed by a physician, not other clinicians), and banned in 14 states.
Let’s talk about contraception access. Opill—the first FDA-approved over-the-counter birth control pill—is set to hit shelves about a month from now. But OTC medications are not typically covered by insurance companies. How is the White House working to make sure OTC contraception is accessible and affordable for everyone?
Once Opill hits the shelves, it really could be a game changer for contraception access.2 Strengthening access to high-quality, affordable contraception has been a major focus for this administration, and our efforts have quite obviously taken on an even greater importance in the wake of the overturning of Roe.
Last fall, we brought together some of the largest employers, insurers, unions, and pharmacies and we talked about ways to better ensure access to affordable high-quality contraception, including Opill, in the future.3 The Department of Health and Human Services just issued guidance to incentivize private insurers to cover affordable contraception like the Opill.
2. Opill is available to order online now and will be in stores across the country later this month. It costs $19.99 for a one-month pack.
3. Nine states require private insurance companies and/or Medicaid to cover at least some OTC contraception, but there is no such federal mandate.
Another key issue up next month is the SCOTUS abortion pill case. What is the Biden administration’s contingency plan in case SCOTUS does curb access to the abortion pill?
Here’s what’s at stake here: The FDA guidance says that mifepristone could be used for up to 10 weeks of pregnancy. This Supreme Court decision could take it back to only 7 weeks, which is before many people even know they’re pregnant. It would also require someone to see a medical provider in person three times to receive the abortion pill, even though the FDA has concluded that it’s safe and effective to prescribe and receive mifepristone by telehealth. Just imagine what it’s like for women who have to travel from a different state to see a doctor three separate times, just to be allowed to take a safe and effective FDA-approved medication. It’s outrageous.
We will continue this fight in the courts, and the administration will also stand by the FDA’s independent approval of mifepristone as safe and effective.
Reproductive freedom advocates have criticized President Biden in the past for not adequately embracing abortion rights and even for avoiding saying the word, using euphemisms like “the right to choose.” How do you answer that critique, and how will you ensure voters know that it’s a priority for a second Biden administration?
It’s clear based on the steps that we’ve already taken—to protect access to medication abortion, to safeguard affordable contraception, to ensure that women receive the care they need in an emergency, to protect privacy for patients and doctors—that reproductive rights have been a major priority for this administration since the beginning. The President established the Gender Policy Council, which I lead, with an exclusive mandate to protect access to reproductive health care and to improve women’s health. This predated Dobbs and that work continues today.
What has been clear since the Dobbs decision came down is that the vast majority of Americans believe that the right to choose4 is fundamental. In every state where abortion has been on the ballot, the American people have overwhelmingly voted to protect reproductive freedom. And that’s what this administration has done from the beginning. Extreme Republicans on the federal level have tried to pass national abortion bans three times. The President always reminds me that the only way to ensure the right to choose in every state is for Congress to restore the protections that were lost when Roe v. Wade was overturned in federal law, and only Congress can do that.
4. Ahem, yep, that’s the euphemism we were talking about!
Is simply restoring Roe v. Wade enough?
There are a number of different bills on the Hill. If we have a Congress in place that will actually take action, there’ll be a lot of discussion about exactly what goes into that bill. People need to make their voices heard so that we can have a Congress in place that will pass legislation to restore constitutional rights that were lost. There has never been a fundamental constitutional right taken away from people.
The contrast is clear: You’ve got one side trying to restore a fundamental right, of reproductive freedom. And on the other side, you’ve got people who are literally on a daily basis trying to take that right away, which not only has consequences for people’s rights, but obviously also has extreme consequences for their health. We’re going to remain laser focused on trying to get Congress to pass the bill to reinstate Roe that the President has been quite clear he would sign as soon as it reaches his desk, that would restore what was lost.
Abortion will be explicitly on the ballot in several states this year, and it’s indisputable that this is a winning issue for Democrats. How do you hammer home for voters how consequential these elections are for protecting and expanding abortion rights?
Republican elected officials across the country have been working toward ending abortion nationwide5, and the President and the Vice President have been quite clear and unequivocal that we’re working to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade. We will continue to do whatever we can do before there’s the Congress in place to actually make sure that women are getting the care that they need.
What should be really clear to people is that they have the power to make their voices heard, to have people in office who reflect their values and the policies that they want to see. Every single time in this past year where people have had the opportunity to make their voices heard in ballot initiatives or in elections at different levels, they’ve been really clear that the vast majority of people believe that Roe v. Wade was rightly decided and shouldn’t have been overturned. They want their reproductive freedom to be restored.
5. The New York Times reported last month that Trump has privately told advisers that he supports a 16-week abortion ban.
Another issue many young voters are deeply upset about is Israel’s war in Gaza, especially as it relates to Palestinian women, tens of thousands of whom are pregnant, experiencing pregnancy loss, and lacking any access to health care whatsoever. What is the Biden administration’s response? Is the Gender Policy Council doing any work in this area?
Yes, the Gender Policy Council works on both foreign policy as well as domestic policy. The entire Biden-Harris administration has remained resolutely committed to advancing and protecting sexual and reproductive health and rights around the world, which improves the health and lives of women, their children, their families and communities. The United States is the largest bilateral donor to global family planning, and we’re super proud of that.6
You rightfully point out this is not just an issue of reproductive health and rights. Abortion in particular is also an issue of maternal health. It’s also an issue of all of the other parts of reproductive health care. And while the U.S. government obviously has limitations in funding abortion abroad, we do a huge amount of work in funding other reproductive health services, like maternal health, infant and, child health.
6. The United States is also the largest donor of military aid to Israel, currently contributing about $4 billion a year.
In a landscape that’s pretty dark for abortion and other reproductive rights, do you see any reason for optimism?
You know, this might sound crazy, but I really am optimistic. And I don’t mean that I’m understating or glossing over the impact on people’s lives—there are so many gut-wrenching stories that we’re seeing, and so many other experiences people are having that we’ll never even know about. But it’s clear that in this moment, because people’s rights were taken away, because we are seeing these horrifying circumstances across the country, people are motivated. People are angry. We’ve seen them speak loudly and clearly on this issue.
So maybe optimism isn’t the right word because it comes from a place of anger. On the other hand, I do remain optimistic that we are going to do what we need to do together. I know that women across the country are going to continue to fight and we’re going to win.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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