Rep. Veasey (TX-33) Votes to Defend Reproductive Health Rights of Texas Women, Enshrine Roe v. Wade Protections into Law

Statement

Today, Rep. Veasey (TX-33) voted to defend women's constitutional right to reproductive health care with H.R. 3755, the Women's Health Protection Act. Amid a dangerous Texas-led assault on women's basic health freedoms, this landmark legislation enshrines into law the vital protections of Roe v. Wade and secures the right to reproductive care for all women across America.

"In a state like Texas that professes to love freedom, conservative politicians have waged a direct attack on the freedom of women to have control over their most fundamental personal choices and health care," said Congressman Marc Veasey (TX-33). "The law is dangerous and will disproportionately hurt already vulnerable low-income and minority women across my state who may not have the luxury to easily travel out of state to access a safe abortion. That is why I am proud to join my colleagues to pass the Women's Health Protection Act today to protect the right to reproductive health care."

For years, radical state legislatures have waged an all-out assault on women's reproductive rights. 2021 is on track to be the worst legislative year for women's health rights ever, with 90 measures restricting reproductive rights enacted since July -- more than in any year since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. On May 19th, Veasey's home state of Texas enacted SB 8, which is now the most extreme abortion law in effect in the United States. Shamefully, the Supreme Court voted to permit this law to go into effect, despite its flagrant violation of the Constitution, by effectively denying Texas women the ability to exercise their constitutional rights guaranteed by Roe. The Supreme Court could take further action to gut Roe's essential protections when it considers Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization on December 1st.

The Women's Health Protections Act (WHPA) codifies the constitutional right to abortion care as found in Roe and reaffirmed in many subsequent decisions for nearly half a century. It establishes the federal statutory right for health care providers to offer abortion care and the federal right for patients to receive that care, free from state restrictions. Enshrining these essential rights is also an issue of racial and economic justice, as restrictions on reproductive care disproportionately harm women of color and women from low-income communities and perpetuate long-standing inequities.

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