NowThis Presidential Forum: Joe Biden on Abortion Access

For Biden, protecting abortion rights comes down to one simple thing: ‘I'm counting on you voting.’

The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on June 24 rolled back constitutional protections for abortion, reversing nearly 50 years of precedent in the U.S.

Since that ruling, laws banning most abortions outright have gone into effect in more than a dozen red states, and a number of other states have imposed restrictions on the procedure, starting at 6 weeks.

The Biden administration has taken numerous steps to help protect reproductive rights, including issuing executive orders in July and August. On October 18, Biden pledged that a law codifying the abortion protections outlined in Roe would be his top legislative priority in the new year if Democrats expand their control of the House and the Senate in the midterms.

Dr. Danielle Mathisen shared her concerns with Biden about working as an OB/GYN in a politically fraught atmosphere as part of the NowThis Presidential Forum. She said she is worried the reversal of Roe will prevent trained medical professionals from being able to properly care for patients in need.



Mathisen: Thank you so much for having me and for speaking about a topic that is so polarizing and doing so so publicly. Truly means a lot to the OB/GYN community and anybody who's affected by abortion care. So thank you for having me. You announced earlier that the first piece of legislation you'll send to Congress after the midterm elections will be a bill codifying Roe. What is your plan to protect abortion rights over the next two years if Democrats aren't able to increase the majority in Congress?

Biden: Well, first of all, it's the first time—and the Supreme Court has, in fact, made a lot of decisions. It's the first time they have not only not proclaimed a constitutional right, but one that they acknowledge existed, it taken away. It goes beyond, potentially, the right to choose. What I have done is, by executive order, making sure that a woman seeking to choose getting health care across a state line that permits abortion, that they can't be held accountable for crossing the line. Making sure that women who are being looked at as to whether they might seek an abortion, that they're not able to be followed on their accounts.

Making sure that there's access to a number of items that accommodate availability of OB/GYN help for the health of the mother in the states that still permit choice under Roe. So there's a lot of things I can do by executive order. But when I said to, and when you heard me say that the first bill I will send, if you give me the votes, I need a couple more senators and I need to maintain the House. The House of Representatives will vote to codify Roe v. Wade because senators have, on the Republican side, made it clear the first thing they want to do, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, wants to federally pass a law that they'd expect the president to sign that would, in fact, outlaw the right to choose in most cases — no matter whether the pregnancy is the consequence of incest, or rape, or any criminal act. He wants to codify that so that you can't have the choice in any state. I think if I have a few more votes, I'm gonna be able to do that and get the Democratic Congress to pass this. And I will sign it. But if we somehow don't do that and the Republicans succeed in blocking abortion in every state by passing a federal ban on it, then I'm gonna veto it. It's not gonna happen as long as I'm president.

Mathisen: Duly noted, sir. I really appreciate that support. Pregnancy itself can be a very dangerous and life-threatening condition. And there are countless ways a pregnant person can experience these. But in a state like where I'm from, doctors are often asked to wait for their legal counsel to allow them to perform life-saving abortions, even in the case of medical emergency, stripping that decision away from the medical professionals and putting it into the hand of lawyers. So my question for you is, apart from codifying Roe, is there more that can be done to protect our ability as providers to have the final say in what we think is best for our patients?

Biden: It’s being contested in the courts, but I’ve passed an executive order saying that you can't do that. What we have to do is just make the case to the American people: I'm counting on you voting — in big, big numbers, like happened in Kansas. Kansas overwhelmingly turned out, a very conservative state, saying, ‘No, no, no, no. We're not going along with that law that bans abortion and bans it under any circumstance.’

The other thing that worries me — how many universities around the country have that same rule, where they don't teach you OB/GYN [students], about the health and safety relative to pregnancy?

Mathisen: Pretty much across the board, whether it's a private or a public institution, just out of fear that that’s somehow aiding and abetting achieving an abortion.

Biden: I didn't realize that was the case — I'm gonna check it out — in most states because it’s very worrisome, and it’s an example of what the Dobbs decision is doing. The Dobbs decision is putting an incredible amount of pressure on doctors to not take and make judgments that really do affect the health of the mother, unrelated to whether or not it's really related to abortion. For example, the case of a 14-year-old girl trying to get access to medicine relating to rheumatoid arthritis. She goes and, for years, been getting,her mom buying it, go to the counter, drugstore said, ‘I can't sell it to you,’ because they're worried they'll be sued. There's a lot of unintended consequences, as well, to this Dobbs decision. I admire the heck out of you for being willing to get together with other students and teach yourself.

Mathisen: On a more personal note, I had to travel about 600 miles, and leave my family behind, and spend thousands of dollars to get abortion care for my own very wanted and very loved pregnancy. In the wake of Roe, some companies are offering funding and services for trips like this. Would you support a federal fund for individuals like myself who need to take time off work, obtain child care—

Biden: Absolutely. The answer is absolutely. But guess what? We need the same votes we need to overrule Dobbs — to reinstate the decision that was struck down by the court. I mean, I do support that, and I’ve publicly urged companies to do that. I've urged them publicly as President of the United States, saying, ‘This is what you should be doing. I urge you to do it.’ Imagine the women who need that kind of assistance, but have no money at all to be able to do this. What do they do? They don't have the option. Our success relative to the rest of the world in terms of the number of mothers who die in pregnancy is so high, especially among the poor in our country.

Mathisen: It's very disproportionately affected based on your socioeconomic status, and I appreciate you highlighting that fact, sir.


This transcript has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

For more on the intimate conversations between Biden and young change-makers focused on finding solutions to some of the most critical issues facing their generation, head to the NowThis Presidential Forum homepage.