President Joe Biden speaks while meeting virtually with governors. Photo: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images
President Biden said Friday during a meeting with U.S. governors that some states will try to arrest women who cross state lines to get abortions.
What he said: "I think people are gonna be shocked when the first state ... tries to arrest a woman for crossing a state line to get health services," the president said during a virtual meeting with governors.
- "And I don't think people believe that's gonna happen. But it's gonna happen, and it's going to telegraph to the whole country that this is a gigantic deal. ... I mean, it affects all your basic rights."
The big picture: Biden said during the meeting that the federal government will work to protect women who need to travel across state lines, which is yet another response from the administration to the Supreme Court's ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade
- The Biden administration said earlier this week it planned to counter the decision and is aiming to "increase access" to FDA-approved abortion pills.
State of play: There are 16 states that still guarantee access to abortion, Axios' Oriana Gonzalez reports.
- Conservative lawmakers have passed restrictive laws to ban abortion in their own states, whereas blue states approved measures that safeguard providers.
- A number of different companies — from Disney to Meta — have looked to pay for their employees to travel to other states in order to receive reproductive health services.
Go deeper ... The latest on Roe v. Wade and abortion