Menendez, Booker, Join House and Senate Dems to Introduce Legislation Guaranteeing Equal Access to Abortion Services Everywhere

Press Release

Following recent passage of restrictive anti-choice state laws in Alabama, Georgia and Missouri, New Jersey's U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker today joined Democratic colleagues in the Senate and House to introduce the Women's Health Protection Act (WHPA) that would guarantee equal access to abortion, everywhere.

"The rights of women to make their own reproductive choices are under assault by extreme right-wing lawmakers across the country who'll stop at nothing until the protections under Roe v. Wade are decimated," said Sen. Menendez. "In the wake of these dangerous efforts to take our country backwards, we must stand up for the reproductive rights of every woman in every state and pass the Women's Health Protection Act now."

"The recent attacks on women's health care are an assault to the fundamental ideal that you can control your own body," Sen. Booker said. "As these injustices threaten the rights and freedoms of women, the Women's Health Protection Act is an important step in affirming what the Supreme Court declared years ago, that Roe v. Wade is the law of the land and women have a constitutional right to control their own bodies."

WHPA guarantees a woman's right to access an abortion--and the right of an abortion provider to deliver these abortion services--free from medically unnecessary restrictions that interfere with a patient's individual choice or the provider-patient relationship.

From Roe v. Wade in 1973 to Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt in 2016, the Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized abortion as a constitutional right. However, anti-abortion advocates have worked for years at the state-level to pass laws meant to undermine or eliminate access to abortion care. Just in this legislative session, 34 laws that restrict and impede access to abortion have already passed in 15 states this legislative session and another 350 restrictive laws have been introduced. WHPA would stop these attacks and ensure that abortion access first guaranteed under Roe is a reality for everyone, everywhere.

The bill is co-sponsored in the Senate by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Angus King (I-Maine), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).

The bill is co-sponsored in the House by U.S. Representatives Alma Adams, Pete Aguilar, Colin Allred, Nanette Barragan, Karen Bass, Joyce Beatty, Ami Bera, Don Beyer, Earl Blumenauer, Lisa Blunt Rochester, Suzanne Bonamici, Brendan Boyle, Anthony Brown, Julia Brownley, Cheri Bustos, G.K. Butterfield, Salud Carbajal, Tony Cardenas, Andre Carson, Ed Case, Sean Casten, Kathy Castor, David Cicilline, Gil Cisneros, Katherine Clark, William Lacy Clay, Steve Cohen, Gerry Connolly, Jim Cooper, TJ Cox, Charlie Crist, Jason Crow, Elijah Cummings, Susan Davis, Danny K. Davis, Madeleine Dean, Peter DeFazio, Dianna DeGette, Rosa DeLauro, Suzan DelBene, Antonio Delgado, Val Demmings, Mark DeSaulnier, Ted Deutch, Debbie Dingell, Lloyd Doggett, Eliot Engel, Veronica Escobar, Adriano Espaillat, Dwight Evans, Lizzie Fletcher, Bill Foster, Lois Frankel, Marcia Fudge, Ruben Gallego, John Garamendi, Jesus Garcia, Sylvia Garcia, Jimmy Gomez, Al Green, Raul Grijalva, Deb Haaland, Alcee Hastings, Jahana Hayes, Denny Heck, Brian Higgins, Katie Hill, Jim Himes, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Steven Horsford, Chrissy Houlahan, Jared Huffman, Sheila Jackson Lee, Pramila Jayapal, Hank Johnson, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Marci Kaptur, Robin Kelly, Joe Kennedy, Ro Khanna, Derek Kilmer, Ron Kind, Ann Kirkpatrick, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Ann M. Kuster, Rick Larsen, Brenda Lawrence, Al Lawson Jr., Barbara Lee, Susie Lee, Andy Levin, John Lewis, Ted Lieu, David Loebsack, Zoe Lofgren, Alan S. Lowenthal, Nita Lowey, Ben Ray Lujan, Carolyn B. Maloney, Sean Patrick Maloney, Doris Matsui, Lucy McBath, Betty McCollum, A. Donald McEachin, James P. McGovern, Gregory W. Meeks, Grace Meng, Joseph D. Morelle, Gwen Moore, Seth Moulton, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Jerrold Nadler, Grace F. Napolitano, Joseph Neguse, Tom O'Halleran, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Jimmy Panetta, Cris Pappas, Donald M. Payne, Ed Perlmutter, Scott H. Peters, Chellie Pingree, Mark Pocan, Katie Porter, Ayanna Pressley, David Price, Mike Quigley, Jamie Raskin, Kathleen Rice, Cedric Richmond, Harley Rouda, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, Linda T. Sanchez, John P. Sarbanes, Mary Gay Scanlon, Janice D. Schakowsky, Adam Schiff, Bradley Scott Schneider, Kurt Schrader, Kim Schrier, Bobby Scott, David Scott, Jose E. Serrano, Terri A. Sewell, Donna Shalala, Brad Sherman, Mikie Sherrill, Albio Sires, Adam Smith, Darren Soto, Jackie Speier, Thomas R. Suozzi, Eric Swalwell, Mark Takano, Mike Thompson, Bennie Thompson, Dina Titus, Rashida Tlaib, Paul Tonko, Norma J. Torres, Lori Trahan, David Trone, Filemon Vela, Nydia M. Velasquez, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Peter Welch, Jennifer Wexton, Susan Wild, Frederica Wilson, and John Yarmuth..

WHPA is also endorsed by leading women's health and civil rights organizations, including the Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and the ACLU.