The House on Friday passed the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act, which would ban states from criminalizing those who travel out of state for such a procedure. The bill’s approval came shortly after the House again passed a sweeping abortion rights bill, the Women’s Health Protection Act, but neither bill is on track to pass the Senate.
HOUSE AGAIN PASSES SWEEPING ABORTION RIGHTS BILL ON TRACK TO FAIL IN THE SENATE
The Ensuring Access to Abortion Act passed the House in a 223-205 vote.
My bill, the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act, protects:
? Our right to travel out of state for reproductive health care
⛑️ Our ability help others do so
? Health care providers giving patients the care they need
For our autonomy—for our liberty—we must #ProtectAbortionAccess. pic.twitter.com/rwkRdmVFlK— Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (@RepFletcher) July 9, 2022
After the Supreme Court’s decision last month in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization struck down the nearly 50-year-old ruling in Roe v. Wade, several states moved to ban or restrict abortion, prompting some abortion rights activists to argue women who travel to other states for abortions or those who travel with them may be prosecuted. But no state has enacted any such measure, and in a concurring opinion to Dobbs, Justice Brett Kavanaugh argued he would not see such a move as constitutional given the “constitutional right to interstate travel.”
Similar legislation, the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act of 2022, was blocked in the Senate earlier this week. That bill, introduced by Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Patty Murray (D-WA), was blocked by Republicans after Democrats sought to pass it with unanimous consent.
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) objected to the move, saying in remarks on the Senate floor, “To be very clear: No state has banned interstate travel for adult women seeking to obtain an abortion. No state has done that.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Senate’s rejection of the similar bill demonstrates that the legislation passed by the House faces grim odds in the upper chamber, as does the Women’s Health Protection Act, which previously failed there.
