LA Times demands a ‘public health emergency’ be declared for abortion: Like a 'bioterrorism attack'

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Democrats' abortion bill is 'truly radical': Rep. Stefanik

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY, responds to Democrats' calls for a "public emergency" declaration after the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade reversal.

The Los Angeles Times editorial board called for a declaration of a public health emergency to protect abortion access Wednesday, claiming the overturning of Roe v. Wade feels like "a bioterrorism attack."

The editorial board said the public health emergency is "being forced to carry to term an unwanted pregnancy" and the Biden administration must act "immediately."

"It doesn’t matter that the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe vs. Wade is not the equivalent of a disease outbreak or a bioterrorism attack (although it does feel like the latter)," the board wrote.

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Pregnant woman showing her ultrasound.  (iStock)

The board pushed the idea of Health and Human Services declaring "a health emergency under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act," which would "allow drugs to be used that mitigate the emergency regardless of state laws banning their use." The goal is to allow prescribers in states with abortion limits to dispense abortion pills or for them to be provided there by mail.

The L.A. Times acknowledged the federal government "cannot override state bans" on surgical abortion procedures, only pills, but touted the "huge impact on abortion access in a country now riven by current or pending abortion bans in more than half the states," with more than half of abortions being conducted through medication.

Containers of the medication used to end an early pregnancy sit on a table inside a Planned Parenthood clinic, Oct. 29, 2021, in Fairview Heights, Ill. A report released Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022 says most U.S. abortions are now done with pills rather than surgery. The trend spiked during the pandemic as telemedicine increased and pills by mail were allowed. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

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Pregnancy-related mortality risks are "more than enough justification to declare a public health emergency," the editorial claimed. Abortion is "much safer than pregnancy" and "[e]ven if a woman doesn’t die in childbirth, she faces mental and physical health risks from pregnancy, labor and delivery, such as stress upon the body and gestational diabetes and other complications," with the poor and people of color the hardest hit. 

Although it was discussed that "being forced to give birth" adds mental stress and "being denied an abortion can have a detrimental effect on women’s mental health," there were no details of the physical and mental risks of abortion.

Despite the legal action a public health declaration will surely invite from states whose limits it is trying to evade, the editorial board still called on President Biden to "immediately" take this "important and powerful step." 

A nurse draws blood from a pregnant woman. (iStock)

The board called it a "grim reality" that Biden "can’t issue an executive order overturning the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning the Roe decision" and wished the president could "make this go away like it was all a bad dream."

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Failing that, Biden must "do everything in his power to protect abortion access," the board concluded.