Whitehouse and Cortez Masto Introduce Bill to Protect Women’s Right to Cross State Lines for Abortion Care

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) re-introduced the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act, legislation that would bar anti-choice states and localities from restricting travel for abortion services and enable individuals to bring civil action against those who block interstate travel for legal reproductive care.

"Republican states responded to the right-wing Supreme Court justices' demolition of Roe v. Wade by enacting increasingly extreme abortion bans and restrictions, including attempts to ban women from travelling to safe states and to punish out-of-state doctors," said Whitehouse. "Our Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act protects the rights of women to cross state lines, a fundamental tenet of American life. The legislation would also protect medical providers from punishment for providing reproductive health care that is legal in their state."

"As we approach the anniversary of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, it is critical that we remain vigilant against continued efforts to further roll back women's reproductive freedoms," said Cortez Masto. "For women in states where abortion became illegal over the last four years, the right to travel for abortion care is a lifeline. We cannot stop pushing back against any attempts to limit this right and make women second-class citizens in America."

"The Trump administration and its backers in Congress are determined to make it harder for everyone, everywhere to get an abortion, even in states where abortion is legal. Their deeply unpopular anti-abortion agenda has already decimated our health care landscape and abortion bans stretch across 20 states, forcing patients to travel. We need every lawmaker to use every tool in their toolbox to protect access to abortion. We are grateful to Sen. Cortez Masto, Whitehouse, Murray, and Gillibrand for introducing a bill that reaffirms a patient's right to travel for time-sensitive, essential abortion care, and prohibits interference with those who are forced to cross state lines as well as those who assist patients in their travels. As attacks on life-saving health care intensify, it is crucial that patients can continue to travel for abortion care, and the people who help them are able to do so without the threat of civil or criminal penalties," said Alexis McGill Johnson, President and CEO, Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Anti-choice politicians in states like Texas have passed laws that punish women for leaving their state for reproductive care and the doctors and employers who assist them. The Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act underscores the Constitutional protections for interstate travel and provides redress for women whose rights are violated. The legislation would also protect health care providers in pro-choice states from prosecution and lawsuits for serving individuals traveling from other states.

Additional co-sponsors of the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act include U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Patty Murray (D-WA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

The Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act is endorsed by Reproductive Freedom for All, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, ACLU, Guttmacher Institute, Physicians for Reproductive Health, National Partnership for Women and Families, Center for Reproductive Rights, Power to Decide, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, National Council of Jewish Women, National Women's Law Center Action Fund, National Abortion Federation, National Network of Abortion Funds, National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, In Our Own Voice: National Black Women's Reproductive Justice Agenda, and the Silver State Hope Fund.

The full text of the bill is available here.