Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra speaks alongside Vice President Kamala Harris during the start of a meeting with the Biden administration’s Task Force on Reproductive Health Care Access in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on April 12.

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra speaks alongside Vice President Kamala Harris during the start of a meeting with the Biden administration’s Task Force on Reproductive Health Care Access in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on April 12. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

HHS to Help Launch National Abortion Hotline

The Biden administration is continuing to seek ways to support abortion care as many states restrict access.

The White House on Wednesday announced a federal agency will help stand up a national hotline to provide counseling to individuals seeking abortions and other family planning services, part of a Biden administration push to expand options as many states restrict abortion access. 

The Health and Human Services Department is seeking a grant recipient to create the hotline as part of its Title X program, which offers care to low-income Americans and those without insurance. The call center will provide “nondirective” counseling—meaning it will not offer any prescriptive advice—but it will make referrals upon request. 

The hotline will “offer pregnant clients the opportunity to be provided information and counseling” regarding prenatal care and delivery; infant care, foster care or adoption; and pregnancy termination. That will include “neutral, factual information” on each option and referral upon request. Those servicing the hotline will not mention any option about which callers indicate they do not want to receive information. 

HHS’ Office of Population Affairs on Wednesday issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity seeking grantees for the initiative. Only organizations currently receiving grants for Title X family planning services will be eligible to apply. The department estimated it will spend $1.5 million on the hotline. 

Vice President Kamala Harris convened an Interagency Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access meeting on Wednesday, during which the administration also unveiled its proposed rule to ensure greater privacy protections for those seeking abortions. 

“Our administration is fighting on every front to do what we can and what we must to protect the American people and the integrity of our health care system in this country,” Harris said. 

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said the new grant would “establish a safe and secure national hotline to provide referral services for women in need of accurate information about their legal reproductive health care options.”

The grant recipient will be responsible for establishing and operating the hotline, as well as building and maintaining an accompanying website. It will also develop and maintain a “detailed national list” of referral service sites. HHS did not respond to a request for additional details on the hotline and website. 

President Biden has vowed to use all tools available to the federal government to boost abortion access in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade last year. Nearly two-dozen states have moved to ban or severely restrict abortions. 

The Justice Department has made clear any federal employees who carry out their duties by providing services related to abortion would be protected from liability. It has also issued a legal opinion making clear the U.S. Postal Service can deliver abortion pills to any state, though that decision could be upended by a recent court ruling that the Food and Drug Administration could not authorize use of the primary abortion medication.

The Veterans Affairs Department is now offering abortions in limited cases, regardless of the laws in the state where the procedure is performed. The Office of Personnel Management clarified that federal employees were entitled to use sick leave to travel for any medical procedure, while the Defense Department issued a memorandum confirming it will continue providing covered abortions to military personnel.  

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.