Women’s Health Protection Act would codify Roe v. Wade into law, guarantee national abortion access
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet joined 47 of their Senate colleagues to reintroduce the Women’s Health Protection Act, landmark legislation that would guarantee access to abortion nationwide.
In June of last year, the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision revoked the national right to an abortion, overturning 50 years of legal precedent established by Roe v. Wade. The ruling stripped abortion access and essential reproductive health care from millions of Americans.
“This bill enshrines into law a basic tenet: women have the freedom to make their own health choices,” said Hickenlooper. “It was the law of the land for 50 years before it was stolen from millions of women by the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, but it will be the law again.”
“Last year – for the first time in American history – the Supreme Court stripped away a fundamental right from the American people and denied their individual liberty to make intensely personal choices about their health and futures. Congress must pass the Women’s Health Protection Act to codify the right to choose and ensure that every person has safe access to reproductive care, no matter where they live,” said Bennet.
Since the Dobbs decision, 14 states have implemented near-total abortion bans, leaving one in three American women without access to safe, legal abortion care. Prior to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, state legislatures across the country introduced and implemented hundreds of bills to include medically unnecessary restrictions that limit access to abortion care and lifesaving reproductive health care. Without Roe, state legislatures are now looking for ways to further restrict access to abortion and other reproductive health services.
The Women’s Health Protection Act establishes federal rights for patients and providers to protect abortion access and creates federal protections against medically unnecessary restrictions that undermine Americans’ access to health care. If passed, this legislation would restore the right to trusted, safe abortion care for all Americans.
Full text of the bill is available HERE.
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