Underwood Votes to Defend Reproductive Freedoms Against Extreme Republican Assaults

Press Release

On Friday, Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (IL-14) voted to pass the Women's Health Protection Act and the Ensuring Women's Right to Reproductive Freedom Act to protect reproductive freedoms nationwide. In the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling to overturn Roe, this legislation will protect the right to an abortion, and stop plans by Republican lawmakers to implement a nationwide ban to criminalize abortion in all 50 states. They've even threatened to criminalize birth control, in-vitro fertilization, and miscarriage care.

"Six Supreme Court justices, who are completely out of step with the American people, ripped away Americans' reproductive rights. We won't go back. I'm fighting for a reality where women aren't criminalized for getting health care and providers aren't prosecuted for doing their jobs," said Underwood. "Republican lawmakers across the country are trying to ban abortion -- often without exception. My Democratic colleagues and I voted to pass this legislation to reinstate a federal right to abortion and guarantee that Americans can't be prosecuted for seeking care in states where abortion remains legal."

At least eight states have abortion bans in effect, and half of all states are expected to ban or severely limit abortion in the days and weeks to come. The Women's Health Protection Act, already passed by the House in 2021 and cosponsored by Underwood, would protect reproductive rights for all by establishing the federal right for health care providers to offer abortion care and the federal right for patients to receive that care, free from state restrictions.

In response to an increase in women traveling to states where abortion is legal, Republican politicians have proposed extremist legislation aimed at blocking women from crossing state lines to obtain an abortion and criminalize those that help them. The Ensuring Women's Right to Reproductive Freedom Act, cosponsored by Underwood, would ensure no person acting under state law can prevent, restrict, impede, or retaliate against a person traveling across state lines to obtain a lawful abortion. Additionally, it would empower the Attorney General to bring a civil action against any person in violation of this law and enable any person harmed by a violation of this law to obtain relief, damages, and attorneys' fees.

The Ensuring Women's Right to Reproductive Freedom Act would also protect:

A health care provider's ability to provide, initiate, or enable an abortion service that is lawful in the state in which the service is provided;
A person's ability to assist a health care provider to provide, initiate, or enable an abortion service that is lawful in the state in which the service is to be provided;
A person or entity's ability to assist someone traveling across a state line for the purpose of obtaining an abortion that is lawful in the state in which the service is to be provided; and
The movement in interstate commerce of any drug approved or licensed by the Food and Drug Administration for the termination of a pregnancy.

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