AUSTIN, Texas — Editor's Note: The video above is from a previous report that aired on July 1.
On Saturday, more than 50 Texas Democratic lawmakers released a letter to the Biden Administration proposing strategies to guarantee abortion access in Texas.
The letter proposes five strategies to make sure pregnant people can have access to abortions in Texas specifically for people who are not able to travel out of state for the procedure. The strategies focus on providing access to FDA-approved abortion medication inside state lines and protecting those who use the medication.
The group makes the following suggestions to President Biden:
- Declare a public health emergency protecting private providers who dispense medication via telehealth.
- Support mission-driven telehealth providers and abortion funds across America.
- Establish a federal program for providers to dispense medication abortion.
- Give the federal government power over state abortion laws that conflict with FDA regulations.
- Protect all Americans from civil or criminal prosecution where self-sourced abortion medication is used.
The proposal to the Biden Administration comes a week after Biden signed an executive order in an attempt to protect abortion access. That action formalized instruction to the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services to fight efforts to limit access to FDA-approved abortion medication or travel outside of the state for abortion procedures.
The executive order does not restore access to abortion across the U.S. It also doesn't protect people from facing prosecution for violating abortion laws in states with such laws.
You can read the full letter online here.
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