The White House
Biden signs executive order to protect abortion access
U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade last month

President Biden on Friday signed an executive order protecting access to reproductive health care services.
The president is under pressure from Democrats to step-up actions in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.
Biden made it clear that Congress needs to codify reproductive healthcare choices, however he also stated that he would continue to take actions on his own to to defend reproductive rights and protect access to safe and legal abortion.
Flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra in the Roosevelt Room, the president spoke about the order and the circumstances leading to the need for the executive order.
Biden referring to the Supreme Court ruling as “the wrong headed decision,” castigated the court for “playing fast and loose with the facts,” using the argument that abortion wasn’t rooted in historical precedent.
“The Supreme Court in Dobbs made a terrible, extreme and I think totally wrong-headed decision to overturn Roe v. Wade … This was not a decision driven by the Constitution […or] by history,” he said.
Biden then criticized the majority for reading the Constitution as frozen in the mindset of the 1800s, when women didn’t even have the right to vote.
Quoting the justice in dissent he then noted that the court decision was use of raw political power, saying that the court had finally a conservative majority to walk back the decision.
Biden urged that voters push out the Republicans in the upcoming mid-term elections labeling the Republicans as “extremist.” He then angrily cited the recent example of the 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio who was forced to travel to neighboring Indiana to have an abortion.
“Ten years old! … A 10 year old girl should be forced to give birth to a rapist’s child? What could be more extreme,” Biden said.
He warned that extremist Republicans even want to impose a national ban on abortion. As long as he’s president such a bill would be vetoed, he said.
The president also specified the need to have the Federal Trade Commission to regulate data brokers and others to enforce privacy for people using apps that expose them to the transfer and sales of sensitive health-related data.

(Screenshot/YouTube White House Channel)
Biden then outlined that the Executive Order included:
- Safeguarding access to reproductive health care services, including abortion and contraception;
Ā - Protecting the privacy of patients and their access to accurate information;
Ā - Promoting the safety and security of patients, providers, and clinics; and
Ā - Coordinating the implementation of Federal efforts to protect reproductive rights and access to health care.
The White House released the language of the executive order prior to Biden signing it:
The president has directed the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to take the following actions and submit a report to him within 30 days on efforts to:
- Protect Access to Medication Abortion.Ā HHS will take additional action to protect and expand access to abortion care, including access to medication that the FDA approved as safe and effective over 20 years ago. These actions will build on the steps the secretary of HHS has already taken at the presidentās direction following the decision to ensure that medication abortion is as widely accessible as possible.
Ā - Ensure Emergency Medical Care.Ā HHS will take steps to ensure all patients ā including pregnant women and those experiencing pregnancy loss ā have access to the full rights and protections for emergency medical care afforded under the law, including by considering updates to current guidance that clarify physician responsibilities and protections under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA).Ā
Ā - Protect Access to Contraception.Ā HHS will take additional actions to expand access to the full range of reproductive health services, including family planning services and providers, such as access to emergency contraception and long-acting reversible contraception like intrauterine devices (IUDs). In all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the Affordable Care Act guarantees coverage of womenās preventive services, including free birth control and contraceptive counseling, for individuals and covered dependents. The secretary of HHS has already directed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to take every legally available step to ensure patient access to family planning care and to protect family planning providers.
Ā - Launch Outreach and Public Education Efforts.Ā Ā HHS will increase outreach and public education efforts regarding access to reproductive health care services ā including abortion ā to ensure that Americans have access to reliable and accurate information about their rights and access to care.
Ā - Convene Volunteer Lawyers.Ā The attorney general and the White House counsel will convene private pro bono attorneys, bar associations, and public interest organizations to encourage robust legal representation of patients, providers, and third parties lawfully seeking or offering reproductive health care services throughout the country.Ā Such representation could include protecting the right to travel out of state to seek medical care. Immediately following the Supreme Court decision, the president announced his administrationās position that Americans must remain free to travel safely to another state to seek the care they need, asĀ the attorney general made clear in his statement, and his commitment to fighting any attack by a state or local official who attempts to interfere with women exercising this right.
PROTECTING PATIENT PRIVACY AND ACCESS TO ACCURATE INFORMATION
The presidentās executive order takes additional steps to protect patient privacy, including by addressing the transfer and sales of sensitive health-related data, combatting digital surveillance related to reproductive health care services, and protecting people seeking reproductive health care from inaccurate information, fraudulent schemes, or deceptive practices.Ā The executive order will:
- Protect Consumers from Privacy Violations and Fraudulent and Deceptive Practices.Ā The president has asked the chair of the Federal Trade Commission to consider taking steps to protect consumersā privacy when seeking information about and provision of reproductive health care services.Ā The president also has directed the secretary of HHS, in consultation with the attorney general and chair of the FTC, to consider options to address deceptive or fraudulent practices, including online, and protect access to accurate information.
- Protect Sensitive Health Information.Ā HHS will consider additional actions, including under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), to better protect sensitive information related to reproductive health care. The secretary of HHS has already directed the HHS Office for Civil Rights to take initial steps to ensure patient privacy and nondiscrimination of patients, as well as providers who provide reproductive health care, including by:
Ā- IssuingĀ new guidanceĀ to address how the HIPAA Privacy Rule protects the privacy of individualsā protected health information, including information related to reproductive health care. The guidance helps ensure doctors and other medical providers and health plans know that, with limited exceptions, they are not required ā and in many cases, are not permitted ā to disclose patientsā private information, including to law enforcement.Ā
Ā - IssuingĀ a how-to guideĀ for consumers on steps they can take to make sure theyāre protecting their personal data on mobile apps.
- IssuingĀ new guidanceĀ to address how the HIPAA Privacy Rule protects the privacy of individualsā protected health information, including information related to reproductive health care. The guidance helps ensure doctors and other medical providers and health plans know that, with limited exceptions, they are not required ā and in many cases, are not permitted ā to disclose patientsā private information, including to law enforcement.Ā
PROMOTING SAFETY AND SECURITY
The executive order addresses the heightened risk related to seeking and providing reproductive health care and will:
- Protect Patients, Providers and Clinics.Ā The administration will ensure the safety of patients, providers, and third parties, and to protect the security of other entities that are providing, dispensing, or delivering reproductive health care services.Ā This charge includes efforts to protect mobile clinics, which have been deployed to borders to offer care for out-of-state patients.Ā
COORDINATING IMPLEMENTATION EFFORTS
To ensure the federal government takes a swift and coordinated approach to addressing reproductive rights and protecting access to reproductive health care, the presidentās executive order will:
- Establish an Interagency Task Force.Ā The president has directed HHS and the White House Gender Policy Council to establish and lead an interagency Task Force on Reproductive Health Care Access, responsible for coordinating federal interagency policymaking and program development.Ā This task force will also include the attorney general.Ā In addition, the attorney general will provide technical assistance to states affording legal protection to out-of-state patients as well as providers who offer legal reproductive health care.Ā
EXECUTIVE ORDER BUILDS ON ADMINISTRATIONāS ACTIONS TO PROTECT ACCESS TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE
In addition to the actions announced today, the Biden-Harris administration has taken the following steps to protect access to reproductive health care and defend reproductive rights in the wake of the Supreme Court decision inĀ Dobbs.Ā On the day of the decision,Ā the president strongly denounced the decisionĀ as an affront to womenās fundamental rights and the right to choose In addition to action mentioned above, the Biden-Harris administration is:
- Supporting Providers and Clinics.Ā The secretary of HHS directed all HHS agencies to ensure that all HHS-funded providers and clinics have appropriate training and resources to handle family planning needs, andĀ announced nearly $3 million in new fundingĀ to bolster training and technical assistance for the nationwide network of Title X family planning providers.
Ā - Promoting Access to Accurate Information.Ā On the day of the Supreme Courtās decision, HHS launchedĀ ReproductiveRights.gov, which provides timely and accurate information about reproductive rights and access to reproductive health care.Ā This includes know-your-rights information for patients and providers and promoting awareness of and access to family planning services, as well as guidance forĀ how to file a patient privacy or nondiscrimination complaintĀ with its Office for Civil Rights.Ā
Ā - Providing LeaveĀ for Federal Workers Traveling for Medical Care.Ā The Office of Personnel ManagementĀ issued guidanceĀ affirming that paid sick leave can be taken to cover absences for travel to obtain reproductive health care.
Ā - Protecting Access to Reproductive Health Care Services for Service members, DoD Civilians, and Military Families.Ā The Department of Defense issued a memo to the Force, DoD civilians and military families on ensuring access to essential womenās health care services. The memo reiterates that the department will continue to provide seamless access to reproductive healthcare for military and civilian patients, as permitted by federal law.Ā Military providers will continue to fulfill their duty to care for service members, military dependents and civilian personnel who require pregnancy termination in the cases of rape, incest, or to protect the life of the mother.
The White House
Trump bars trans women and girls from sports
The administration reversed course on the Biden-Harris policy on Title IX

President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued another executive order taking aim at the transgender community, this time focusing on eligibility for sports participation.
In a signing ceremony for āKeeping Men Out of Womenās Sports” in the East Room of the White House, the president proclaimed “With this executive order, the war on womenās sports is over.”
Despite the insistence by Trump and Republicans that trans women and girls have a biological advantage in sports over cisgender women and girls, the research has been inconclusive, at best.
A study in the peer reviewed Sports Medicine journal found āno direct or consistent researchā pointing to this conclusion. A different review in 2023 found that post-pubertal differences are āreduced, if not erased, over time by gender affirming hormone therapy.ā
Other critics of efforts to exclude trans student athletes have pointed to the small number of people who are impacted. Charlie Baker, president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, testified last year that fewer than 10 of the NCAA’s 522,000+ student athletes identify as trans.
The Trump-Vance administration has reversed course from the Biden-Harris administration’s policy on Title IX rules barring sex-based discrimination.
āIf youāre going to have womenās sports, if youāre going to provide opportunities for women, then they have to be equally safe, equally fair, and equally private opportunities, and so that means that youāre going to preserve womenās sports for women,” a White House official said prior to the issuance of the order.
Former President Joe Biden’s Title IX rules, which went into effect last year, clarified that pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), sex-based discrimination includes that which is based on the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
The White House official indicated that the administration will consider additional guidance, regulations, and interpretations of Title IX, as well as exploring options to handle noncompliance by threatening federal funding for schools and education programs.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump ādoes expect the Olympic Committee and the NCAA to no longer allow men to compete in womenās sports.ā
One of the first legislative moves by the new Congress last month was House Republicans’ passage of the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” which would ban trans women and girls from participating in competitive athletics.
The bill is now before the U.S. Senate, where Republicans have a three-seat majority but would need 60 votes to overcome the filibuster.
The White House
Trump signs order to restrict gender-affirming health care for minors
HRC and Congressional Equality Caucus denounced the move

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order barring gender-affirming health care for minors, the latest action by the newly seated administration that takes aim at the rights and protections of transgender Americans.
The executive order, which prohibits the federal government from engaging in activities to “fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support” trans medicine for patients younger than 19, is based on arguments that these treatments lead to financial hardship and regret later in life.
In reality, scientific and medical organizations publish and maintain clinical practice guidelines on gender-affirming care that are based on hundreds of peer reviewed studies assessing the relative risks and benefits associated with each intervention.
āEveryone deserves the freedom to make deeply personal health care decisions for themselves and their families ā no matter your income, zip code, or health coverage,ā said Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson. āThis executive order is a brazen attempt to put politicians in between people and their doctors, preventing them from accessing evidence-based health care supported by every major medical association in the country.”
Robinson added, “It is deeply unfair to play politics with peopleās lives and strip transgender young people, their families, and their providers of the freedom to make necessary health care decisions. Questions about this care should be answered by doctors ā not politicians ā and decisions must rest with families, doctors, and the patient.ā
HRC noted that in practical terms, the federal government will effectuate this policy by taking such actions as “removing coverage for gender-affirming care from federal health insurance policies, modifying requirements under the Affordable Care Act, and preventing hospitals or other medical providers who accept Medicare or Medicaid, or who receive federal funding for research or education, from providing gender-affirming care of any kind to people under the age of 19.”
āThis executive order to deny young transgender people access to the evidence-based, medically-necessary and often lifesaving care they need is an attempt by Donald Trump to insert himself into doctorsā offices across the country and override their medical judgment,āĀ said U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus.
āDecisions about a young personās healthcare belong with the patient, their families, and their doctors,” he added. “Politicians should not be overriding the private medical decisions of any person, period.ā
The White House
Trump immigration policies ‘will cost lives’
Groups that work with LGBTQ migrants, asylum seekers condemn White House EOs

Groups that work with LGBTQ migrants and asylum seekers have condemned the Trump-Vance administration over its immigration policies.
President Donald Trump shortly after his Jan. 20 inauguration signed several immigration-specific executive orders. They include:
ā¢ Declaring a national emergency on the Southern border
ā¢ Suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program
ā¢ Ending birthright citizenship under the 14th amendment. (U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, who Ronald Reagan appointed, in a Jan. 23 ruling described the directive as “blatantly unconstitutional.”)
Trump has reinstated the Migrant Protection Protocols program, also known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy that forced asylum seekers to pursue their cases in Mexico. The White House on Jan. 20 also shut down the CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) One app that asylum seekers used to schedule appointments that would allow them to enter the U.S. at ports of entry.
A press release the Department of Homeland Security issued on Jan. 21 issued notes the Trump-Vance administration has ended “the broad abuse of humanitarian parole” for undocumented migrants. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and CBP agents can also make arrests in schools, churches, and other so-called “sensitive” areas.
An ICE press release notes the agency, the U.S. Marshals Service and other federal agencies on Sunday “began conducting enhanced targeted operations” in Chicago “to enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities.”
ICE on X said its agents arrested 956 people on Sunday across the country. NBC Washington reported ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations personnel on Sunday morning were at a Fairfax County apartment building, but it is not clear whether they took anyone into custody.
A second press release that ICE issued on Jan. 23 notes the arrest of an undocumented Mexican man in Houston who was wanted for the “rape of a child” in Veracruz, Mexico. Mexican authorities took him into custody after ICE officials returned him to his country of origin.
“We now have a government that cannot manage even a simple crisis at home while, at the same time, stumbling into a continuing catalogue of catastrophic events abroad,” said Trump in his inaugural address.
Ā
“It fails to protect our magnificent, law-abiding American citizens, but provides sanctuary and protection for dangerous criminals, many from prisons and mental institutions, that have illegally entered our country from all over the world,” he added.
Immigration Equality Executive Director Aaron C. Morris on Jan. 22 said Trump’s “agenda to detain, deport, and dehumanize people is an affront to fundamental American values.”
“The executive orders will cost lives, separate families, and trap queer people in extreme danger,” he said. “They are an overt, illegal power grab with mortal consequences for LGBTQ people seeking safety in the United States.”
Then-Vice President Kamala Harris and others in the previous administration acknowledged violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity is among the “root causes” of migration from the Central American countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. (Morris is among the activists who sharply criticized the Biden-Harris administration over policies they said restricted LGBTQ people and people with HIV from seeking asylum in the U.S.)
“The Trump administration’s recent executive orders targeting asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants while escalating attacks on the LGBTIQ community are unethical, un-American, and jeopardize countless lives,” Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration Executive Director Steve Roth told the Washington Blade in a statement. “By barring asylum and suspending refugee programs, these policies strip away fundamental human rights and protections, directly threatening LGBTIQ refugees who already endure persecution, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and systematic inequality.”
Familia: TQLM, an organization that advocates on behalf of transgender and gender non-conforming immigrants, was even more pointed in a statement it posted to its Facebook page shortly after Trump’s inauguration.
“On Jan. 20, we resist,” said Familia: TQLM. “This is not a day to give into fear, but a day to reclaim our power.”
“Trans and queer immigrant people have endured through regimes that sought to erase, silence, and destroy us,” it added. “Yet, we remain.”
Casa Frida, which works with LGBTQ migrants and asylum seekers in Mexico City, in a Jan. 20 post to its X account said it will continue to work with the aforementioned groups with the support of local officials.
“We are preparing ourselves to continue working with love and solidarity in favor of LGBTIQ communities, migrants and displaced people,” said Casa Frida. “Our programs are reorganized and coordinated with local governments with pride, dignity and without fear or shame of who we are.”
Ante los esperados cambios polĆticos; Estamos preparĆ”ndonos para seguir adelante trabajando con amor y solidaridad en favor de las comunidades y personas LGBTIQ migrantes y desplazadas. Nuestros programas se reorganizan y coordinan con gobiernos locales. Con orgullo, dignidad yā¦
— Refugio LGBTIQ š³ļøāšš³ļøāā§ļøš²š½ (@CasaFridaLGBT) January 20, 2025
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