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January 18, 2021

What to Expect When You’re Expecting a Biden Administration

From the moment that Joe Biden announced Kamala Harris as his running mate, his presidential ticket was projected to be the most pro-abortion in U.S. history. From the promises made on the campaign trail to actions they’ve already taken, even before Inauguration Day, the Biden administration is sure to place abortion at the top of its agenda. The following document lays out the actions that they will likely take to force radical abortion policy through a variety of avenues after taking office this January.

EXECUTIVE ORDERS

Historically, American Presidents have begun their first terms by signing a significant number of executive orders. Below are just four of the actions that we believe President-Elect Joe Biden will take on day one through the use of executive orders.

1. President-Elect Biden will end the Mexico City Policy.

The Mexico City Policy (also referred to as the ‘global gag rule’) halts the use of American taxpayer funds for abortions overseas. Historically, the Mexico City Policy has alternated based on the abortion-related policy stances of whomever is in the White House. President Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy in 2016, and it’s anticipated that this will be one of President-Elect Biden’s first actions.

2. The Biden administration will end the Protect Life Rule.

In 2017, President Trump initiated the Protect Life Rule, which barred Title X funds from being granted to organizations that performed abortions or referred to abortion providers. As a result of this policy, Planned Parenthood surrendered more than $60M of federal Title X funds. We anticipate that a Biden administration will immediately reverse the Protect Life Rule, thereby reinstating organizations like Planned Parenthood’s eligibility for Title X funds.

3. The Biden administration will end the Born Alive Infants Protection Act.

Another policy that will surely be reversed by the Biden administration is President Trump’s Born Alive Infants Protection Act. Under this order, hospitals are required to provide life-saving care to infants born alive, regardless of their gestational age. Additionally, the order specified that infants at all stages of development are human persons and should thereby be provided the same protections under the law. For this reason, we are certain that the Biden administration will immediately reverse this order.

4. The Biden administration will end the Free Speech Executive Order.

President Trump’s Free Speech Executive Order threatened universities with the loss of federal research dollars, should they violate the First Amendment rights of students on college campuses. This important policy provides free speech protections that Students for Life directly benefit from, and its reversal would put students’ ability to speak freely about the rights of the preborn at great risk on many campuses.

LEGISLATION

President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris will surely pursue legislation with Congress that will deeply affect longstanding pro-life laws. These policies will take longer to implement but will do great damage to the pro-life mission if the Biden administration is successful in applying them.

1. The Biden administration will seek to codify Roe v. Wade.

Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris promised very early on in her own campaign for the U.S. presidency that codifying Roewould be a top priority, should she be elected. ‘Codifying Roe’ refers to actually taking the essence of Roe – that a woman has a “right” to privacy, and thereby a “right” to abortion – and implementing it in the form of a law, as opposed to simply a Supreme Court ruling. The intention behind this action would be to force abortion access in the event that Roe v. Wade is reversed sometime soon.

2. The Biden Administration will seek to repeal the Hyde Amendment.

Prior to the implementation of the Hyde Amendment in 1980, more than 300,000 abortions were performed annually through the use of taxpayer dollars. The Hyde Amendment put a stop to this practice by barring the use of federal money for abortions. Both President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris have called for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment on multiple occasions, which would deal a devastating blow to the protections in place for the preborn at the federal level.

THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris promised countless times on the campaign trail that they would use the Department of Justice to protect and defend abortion across all venues, particularly in the face of pro-life states and laws. We anticipate two specific ways that the Biden administration will weaponize the DOJ for the purpose of forwarding radical abortion policy.

1. The Biden administration will use the DOJ to prosecute pro-life whistleblowers and activists.

Take, for example, David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt – both of whom gathered critical information that allegedly incriminated Planned Parenthood, but were instead themselves prosecuted in the state of California under Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who was recently appointed to lead the Department of Health and Human Services under President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris. And, lest we forget that Harris ordered the California State Police to raid the private home of Daleiden when she was attorney general of the state. We can surely expect that pro-life whistleblowers and activists will be prosecuted for their important work under a Biden administration.

2. The Biden administration will use the DOJ to unconstitutionally judge pro-life laws.

While on the campaign trail, Vice President-Elect Harris repeatedly promised that she would implement rules requiring the DOJ to thoroughly review and vet any laws passed by overtly pro-life states, such as Alabama and Georgia, which challenged women’s access to abortion or threatened to prevent abortions from occurring in the state. For this reason, we can be sure that the Biden administration will exploit the powers of the DOJ to prevent pro-life states from implementing laws that curb the abortion industry.

PERSONNEL

Personnel and cabinet appointments can have an unexpected impact on the policies and rules that are enacted under a given presidential administration. Below, we detail two examples of positions that President-Elect Biden could fill with anti-life officials that will significantly endanger the preborn.

1. The Biden administration will appoint an FDA head who refuses to regulate chemical abortion.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has forced healthcare providers to offer more virtual care options, women across the country are falling prey to dangerous telemedicine abortion practices that put them at serious risk of trauma, injury, and even death. Under the Biden administration, these dangerous practices will only be perpetuated, should President-Elect Biden fail to appoint a department head who is willing to maintain the important chemical abortion rules that protect women from the dangerous RU-486 pill.

2. The Biden administration has appointed Xavier Becerra as head of HHS.

Another personnel appointment that could have tragic repercussions for women and the preborn has already been announced by the Biden administration – and it’s as bad as we could have expected. Xavier Becerra, who has been picked to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, has a long history of using his positions of power to prosecute pro-life activists, protect the abortion industry, and deny the preborn any and all of their human rights. Should Becerra be confirmed by the Senate to serve as the head of HHS, his leadership will bear very grim results for the pro-life movement and beyond.

JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS

Judicial appointments are another example of actions by a president that can have a lasting impact on the integrity of our nation’s laws and policies. By appointing pro-abortion activist judges to critical judicial seats, the Biden administration will force its pro-abortion agenda for many years to come.

1. The Biden administration will appoint pro-abortion activist judges to seats across the country.

Just as President Trump has appointed countless pro-life judges to serve in courts all over the nation, we anticipate that the Biden administration will reverse this critical work by appointing pro-abortion activist judges to serve lifetime appointments wherever and whenever they are able.

2. The Biden administration will fill any Supreme Court vacancies with pro-abortion activists.

Should any vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court occur over the next four years, President-Elect Biden will surely fill these open seats with pro-abortion activists judges who intend to uphold Roe v. Wade.

HEALTHCARE POLICY

In addition to weaponizing the courts for the sake of protecting abortion access, the Biden administration will surely also implement rules and policies within the healthcare system that force their radical abortion agenda on pro-life Americans across the country. Below are two examples of how the Biden administration will violate Americans’ right to religious freedom by forcing their involvement in abortion services.

1. The Biden administration will protect and defend the coercive abortion coverage in Obamacare.

President-Election Biden has promised that as part of the expansions he will make to Obamacare, he’ll force insurance coverage for abortifacient contraceptives and abortion, regardless of the religious convictions of the policyholders. These coercive programs have required Americans across the country to pay for others’ abortions, and any expansion of this policy would be a grave violation of both the freedoms of the American people and also the human rights of the preborn.

2. The Biden administration will fight states who remove Planned Parenthood from Medicaid.

In recent months, the state of Texas has been defending in court its decision to remove Planned Parenthood from state Medicaid, citing a lack of qualification. Similar decisions were made by states such as Louisiana back in 2015, following the release of the undercover videos that alleged Planned Parenthood was trafficking aborted babies’ body parts for scientific research. At the time, the Obama administration vehemently opposed this decision, going so far as to suggest that states were breaking federal law by removing women’s access to Planned Parenthood services. We anticipate that the Biden administration will take the same stance and defend Planned Parenthood’s access to Medicaid funding.

To read more on what pro-life supporters can expect during a Biden Administration, click here to read Kristan Hawkins’ latest op-ed in Washington Times.