FREDERICKSBURG TODAY

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger helped reintroduce legislation to codify the protections granted under the decisions in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey as the law of the land.

The Spanberger-backed legislation would create a statutory right for providers to provide and patients to receive an abortion — without facing medically unnecessary restrictions. The bill would also block the government from requiring providers to provide inaccurate information to patients, remove the ability to require that patients make medically unnecessary in-person visits before receiving an abortion, and restrict the government from forcing patients to disclose their reasons for seeking an abortion before receiving care. Additionally, the bill would protect the right to travel across state lines to seek lawful abortions.

“Lawmakers have an obligation to protect the basic rights of the people we serve. Until the Supreme Court erased a woman’s right to privacy and reproductive healthcare, the right to safe and legal abortion was settled law in the United States for nearly five decades. In the months since, we have seen anti-abortion politicians endeavor to — and succeed in — stripping away the constitutional rights of millions of American women,” said Spanberger. “Women in Virginia and across our country deserve the freedom to make decisions about their own bodies. I’m proud to once again support the Women’s Health Protection Act to restore the right to privacy and restore a woman’s right to choose.”

Spanberger first cosponsored the Women’s Health Protection Act in 2021 and voted twice to pass the legislation. Following the Dobbs decision, which upended reproductive and substantive due process rights, abortion is now unavailable in 14 states — leaving nearly 18 million women of reproductive age without abortion access in their home state. Last Congress, a majority of the U.S. House voted to pass the legislation, but it was stalled in the U.S. Senate.

The Women’s Health Protection Act is led by U.S. Representative Judy Chu (D-CA-28).

BACKGROUND

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Spanberger has worked to protect access to reproductive healthcare.

In July 2022, Spanberger cosponsored legislation — which the U.S. House voted to pass later that month — to protect American women from being criminalized for interstate travel to seek abortions.

The Congresswoman also backed the Right to Contraception Act in July 2022 to codify the right for Americans to access birth control into federal law. The bill passed the U.S. House later that month.