Congressman Crow Votes to Codify Access to Reproductive Healthcare

Press Release

Date: Sept. 24, 2021
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Reproduction

WASHINGTON - Congressman Jason Crow (CO-06) voted today to pass the Women's Health Protection Act (WHPA) to enshrine into law access to reproductive healthcare for every person across America -- regardless of what state they live in. This legislation comes weeks after the Supreme Court denied an emergency request to block Texas S.B. 8, a radical six-week abortion ban -- effectively greenlighting this country's most restriction ban on abortions. This fall, the Supreme Court is now set to consider a case from Mississippi that takes aim at the core protections of Roe v. Wade.

"With increasingly brazen attacks on Roe. v. Wade, it's time we codify equal access to abortion care in this country," said Congressman Crow. "Passing the Women's Health Protection Act will help ensure every person--regardless of who they are or where they live--is free to make the best health care decisions for themselves, their families, and their lives."

Texas is not the only state seeking to impose extreme bans on abortion. In 2019 and 2020, state lawmakers in seven states passed bans on abortion at six and eight weeks of pregnancy, three weeks before many people even know they're pregnant--and in Alabama, lawmakers tried to ban abortion entirely.

The impact of these restrictive laws is devastating: today, nearly 90 percent of American counties are without a single abortion provider, and 27 cities have become "abortion deserts" because people who live there must travel 100 miles or more to reach a provider.

One in four women will have an abortion in her lifetime. Congressman Crow joins a majority of Americans who believe that when someone has made the decision to have an abortion, they should be able to access the care they need free from burdens, barriers, and stigma.

Congressman Crow has been a longtime advocate for reproductive healthcare and has been a proud original co-sponsor of WHPA in the 116th and 117th Congresses.

Women's Health Protection Act:

Will establish the federal statutory right for health care providers to provide abortion care, and the federal statutory right for patients to receive it, free from unnecessary state bans and restrictions intended to impede or block this access.
Ensures that patients can access abortion care and health care providers can provide it without burdensome restrictions that single out abortion care as compared with other medical procedures with similar risk.
Is landmark legislation that guarantees the right to access abortion care, free from political interference, no matter where someone lives.


Source
arrow_upward