WASHINGTON – Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-03) today voted to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) to establish the federal right for health care providers to carry out an abortion, and for patients to receive abortion care, free from state bans and restrictions intended to impede or block this access.
“Every woman has the constitutional right to basic reproductive health care and this bill will keep women’s health care decisions between her and her doctor without political interference,” said Rep. Grijalva. “The tragic truth of abortion restriction laws is that they are not rooted in science and disproportionately prevent low-income women and women of color from obtaining legal medical services. Banning abortion before most women know they are pregnant and refusing to make exceptions for cases of rape or incest is extreme, unjust, and inhumane. I’m proud to help protect women’s reproductive health care rights and prevent this further assault on a woman’s constitutional right to make her own healthcare decisions.”
In May, Texas passed and signed SB 8, one of the most extreme abortion bans, into law, which the Supreme Court then upheld. SB8, is an unconstitutional assault on women’s rights and health – banning abortion before most women know they are pregnant and refusing to make exceptions for cases of rape or incest. SB 8 also created vigilante bounty system allowing for anyone to turn in a woman or anyone who helps a woman in any way access an abortion.
WHPA seeks to guarantee the right to access abortion care, free from political interference, no matter where someone lives and would:
- Codify the constitutional right to an abortion found in Roe v. Wade,
- Create federal protections against state laws that fail to protect women’s health and that intrude upon personal decision-making, and
- Prohibit medically unwarranted restrictions that single out abortion services or the facilities that provide them.
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