REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) 鈥� President Joe Biden said Sunday he is considering declaring a public health emergency to free up federal resources to promote even though the White House has said it doesn't seem like 鈥渁 great option.鈥�
He also offered a message to people enraged by the last month that ended a constitutional right to abortion and who have been demonstrating across the country: 鈥淜eep 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 to allow the procedure.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 have the authority to say that we鈥檙e going to reinstate Roe v. Wade as the law of the land,鈥� 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 鈥渓ot of things to accommodate the rights of women鈥� 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 鈥渢o look at whether I have the authority to do that and what impact that would have.鈥�
On Friday, Jen Klein, the director of the White House Gender Policy Council, said it 鈥渄idn't seem like a great option.鈥�
鈥淲hen we looked at the public health emergency, we learned a couple things: One is that it doesn鈥檛 free very many resources," she told reporters. 鈥淚t鈥檚 what鈥檚 in the public health emergency fund, and there鈥檚 very little money 鈥� tens of thousands of dollars in it. So that didn鈥檛 seem like a great option. And it also doesn鈥檛 release a significant amount of legal authority. And so that鈥檚 why we haven鈥檛 taken that action yet.鈥�
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Associated Press writer Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.
Hannah Fingerhut, The Associated Press
