Executive Order on Protecting Access to Reproductive Healthcare Services

On 7/8/2022, U.S. President Joseph R. Biden signed Executive Order 14076 – Protecting Access to Reproductive Healthcare Services.  The Executive Order instructs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) within 30 days to submit a report identifying:  potential actions “to protect and expand access to abortion care” and “the full range of reproductive healthcare services”; “ways to increase outreach and education about access to reproductive healthcare services”; and “steps to ensure all patients … receive the full protections for emergency medical care afforded the law….”  The Executive Order also requires consideration of actions by:  the Federal Trade Commission “to protect consumers’ privacy when seeking information about the provision of reproductive healthcare services”; and the HHS Secretary “to strengthen the protection of sensitive information related to reproductive healthcare services.”  Other key components of the Executive Order create an Interagency Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access (co-chaired by the HHS Secretary and White House Gender Policy Council Director) “to identify and coordinate activities to protect and strengthen access to essential reproductive healthcare services,” and instruct the Attorney General to provide technical assistance “concerning Federal constitutional protections to States seeking to afford legal protection to out-of-State patients and providers who offer legal reproductive healthcare.”