EMILYs List Statement on the Biden-Harris Administration’s EO to Protect Abortion Access

For Immediate Release
July 8, 2022 

EMILY's List Statement on the Biden-Harris Administration’s Executive Order to Protect Abortion Access

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, President Biden signed an executive order to protect abortion access following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and end the constitutional right to abortion. The executive order focuses on protecting access to medication abortion and contraception, increasing public education efforts, protecting privacy and data, and expanding legal options available to those seeking and providing abortion care. EMILYs List President Laphonza Butler released the following statement in response to this executive order: 

“As essential health care is being ripped away from tens of millions, I am grateful for these important steps by the Biden-Harris administration to help protect access to abortion care across the country. While these actions are critical, executive orders from the president will not restore our constitutional rights. This November, voters all over the country will have the chance to make their voices heard and to make sure that anyone taking away their freedoms will be replaced with Democratic pro-choice women who are committed to protecting our reproductive freedom. 

“Make no mistake, abortion is on the ballot for the 2022 midterms, and who we elect up and down the ballot matters. We’ve seen what happens when Republicans are in power: they criminalize doctors and punish people who get an abortion. On the other hand, EMILYs List-endorsed candidates stand with the majority of Americans and are fighting to protect abortion access, including Democratic attorney general candidates who have pledged not to enforce abortion bans, and Maine Gov. Janet Mills, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer who have issued executive orders and directives to protect abortion rights in their states. As the president of an organization that helps elect Democratic pro-choice women, this cycle I’m focused on creating a real pro-choice majority in Congress and building power in the states with elected officials who will fight for freedom and our fundamental rights.”

EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $700 million to elect Democratic pro-choice women candidates. With a grassroots community of over five million members, EMILY's List helps Democratic women win competitive campaigns – across the country and up and down the ballot – by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running nearly $50 million in independent expenditures in the last cycle alone, and turning out women voters and voters of color to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country's first woman as vice president, 159 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and more than 1,300 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. After the 2016 election, more than 60,000 women reached out to EMILY's List about running for office laying the groundwork for the next decade of candidates for local, state, and national offices. In our effort to elect more women in offices across the country, we have created our Run to Win program, expanded our training program, including a Training Center online, and trained thousands of women.