WASHINGTON – Today, Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-03) voted to pass H.R. 8296, the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), and H.R. 8297, the Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act. The House previously voted on and passed the Women’s Health Protection Act in September 2021.
The Women’s Health Protection Act would protect the right to abortion throughout the United States and would block the barrage of state bans and restrictions on abortion intended to impede or outright deny access. The bill would overturn the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson and protect a person’s freedom to make decisions about their own reproductive health care and a health care provider’s ability to provide the full range of reproductive health services, including abortion.
“The extremist Supreme Court lied about adhering to settled judicial precedent and stripped away a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion and bodily autonomy. Republican state lawmakers in states like Arizona are in the midst of an all-out assault, already implementing or trying to implement oppressive and draconian laws to control women’s bodies,” said Rep. Grijalva. “ While women already have the constitutional right to travel freely in this country, we must now ensure the far-right does not try to undermine that right and that those who are seeking abortions outside of the states they reside are protected. We know these cruel, inhumane policies will disproportionately impact working women and women of color. Congressional Republicans have shown they will stop at nothing to turn back time and undermine the will of the people – including proposing a nationwide ban on abortion. The Senate needs to stop playing politics with women’s bodies and pass this legislation that protects the fundamental right to an abortion.”
The Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act prohibits any person from restricting or impeding a person’s constitutional right to travel across state lines for the purpose of obtaining a lawful abortion. This legislation comes on the heels of national news where, because of Ohio’s restrictive abortion laws banning abortions as early as six weeks, a 10-year old girl was forced to travel from Ohio to Indiana after being raped to receive an abortion. The doctor who helped the 10-year old victim is now being criminalized by the state of Indiana.
The Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act would prohibit any attempt under state law to:
- impede an individual from crossing state lines to obtain a legal abortion
- interfere with a health care provider’s ability to offer legal reproductive care
- restrict individuals from helping others to seek a legal abortion
- obstruct the transportation of FDA-approved abortion medication.