Even so, the president pledges to do “everything in his power to defend reproductive rights and protect access to safe and legal abortion.” But as the rest of the order makes clear, there’s not much in his power at all, and he hasn’t even managed to find much of a way to overstep his authority in service of abortion.

The Health and Human Services Department is tasked with such nebulous action items as “taking additional action to protect and expand access to abortion care,” including chemical-abortion drugs; “taking steps to ensure all patients . . . have access to full rights and protection for emergency medical care”; and “taking additional actions to expand access to the full range of reproductive health services.” These “steps” and “additional actions” are never fleshed out in any detail.

Following these vague pledges to “take action,” HHS will also “increase outreach and public education efforts regarding access to reproductive health care services—including abortion.” The order goes on to direct the Federal Trade Commission not to “take steps” but rather “to consider taking steps to protect consumers’ privacy when seeking information about and provision of reproductive health care services” — bureaucrat-ese for limiting the reach of pregnancy resource centers by curbing their free speech. And it directs HHS to cooperate with the existing White House Gender Policy Council to “lead an interagency Task Force on Reproductive Health Care Access,” which is primed to accomplish essentially nothing.