Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has introduced a bill that would prohibit President Joe Biden from expanding abortion access through a public health emergency, Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported.
News of Rubio's legislation comes after the Biden administration floated the idea of using an emergency declaration. It would prohibit the president from declaring a national emergency under the Stafford Act and prohibit the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) from declaring a public health emergency for this purpose, CNA reported.
Rubio introduced similar legislation last year when it stalled in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
A public health emergency declaration normally is issued to address severe weather, disease outbreaks, or other imminent health emergencies.
Pro-abortion advocates have urged Biden and HHS to take such a step in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which they claim has created a "full-scale reproductive health crisis," Axios reported Tuesday.
The White House has said that declaring a public health emergency did not "seem like a great option" to expand abortion access.
Rubio's bill would stop any emergency declaration from promoting, supporting, or expanding access to abortion, and prevent states from being punished for restricting abortion.
Axios reported Tuesday that HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said currently there is an ongoing evaluation into the possible approach.
"There are certain criteria that you look for to be able to declare a public health emergency," Becerra told Axios. "That's typically done by scientists and those that are professionals in those fields who will tell us whether we are in a state of emergency and based on that, I have the ability to make a declaration."
Some pro-life lawmakers and organizations warned that using an emergency declaration to expand abortion access would be an abuse of power.
"The fact that the Biden administration wants to declare a public emergency to promote the wanton abortion of unborn children, a grotesque abuse of power, but won't hardly spend a dime on tackling true emergencies like the one at our southern border, proves just how painfully out of touch President Biden is," Mississippi Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, chair of the Senate Pro-Life caucus, told CNA in a statement.
National Right to Life Committee President Carol Tobias told CNA that use of a public health emergency to expand abortion access likely would face legal challenges.
"In the end, the ability not to kill preborn babies does not make for a public health emergency," Tobias told CNA. "There are times where I think this is absolutely their No. 1 priority."
Tobias cautioned that "this could be a way that the administration is trying to undermine the Hyde Amendment" and "use our tax dollars … to fund abortion."
The Hyde Amendment prohibits the federal government from funding abortion, with the exception of rape, incest, and the life of the mother.
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