Kilmer Votes to Defend Right to Reproductive Freedom
Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Representative Derek Kilmer (WA-06) voted to support, and the House passed, the Women’s Health Protection Act and the Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act - two bills aimed at protecting reproductive freedom and ensuring comprehensive access to health care.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed nearly 50 years of precedent established in Roe v. Wade to protect the right to an abortion. In the immediate aftermath of the Dobbs decision, at least nine 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. Congressional Republicans, along with former Vice President Mike Pence, are calling for a national abortion ban that would criminalize abortion “in every state in the land.”
“The conservative-led Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion is outrageous - and threatens reproductive freedom everywhere. In the wake of this ruling, Republican lawmakers nationwide are working to severely limit or ban abortion and working to limit access to reproductive care,” said Rep. Kilmer. “Let me be clear: decisions about reproductive health care, including abortions, are best made by women in consultation with their doctors. These deeply personal decisions should not be interfered with or replaced by the judgment of politicians. That’s why I’ve strongly opposed efforts to roll back reproductive rights – and why I was proud to vote for today’s legislation. I’ll keep fighting to protect reproductive freedom.”
Today, Rep. Kilmer voted to support the Women’s Health Protection Act – landmark legislation that ensures health care providers have a statutory right to provide abortion care and patients have a statutory right to receive that care, free from state bans and restrictions that are intended to impede or block access. The bill would restore abortion access nationwide and make it clear that all women have a right to an abortion without restrictions that block care and undermine a person’s ability to make their own health care decisions.
The House first passed the Women’s Health Protection Act in September 2021. The legislation has been updated to address the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs but retains the same statutory mechanism passed in September 2021 that provides a comprehensive solution to ensuring the right to abortion nationwide.
In addition, Rep. Kilmer voted to support the Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act of 2022, which would protect a woman traveling across state lines for the purpose of obtaining a legal an abortion. Since the Supreme Court’s decision in June, Republican state legislators across the country have proposed legislation aimed at blocking a woman from crossing state lines to obtain an abortion and criminalizing those that help them.
In response, the House passed the Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act of 2022 – which specifically establishes a private right of action for individuals to enforce their right to travel across state lines to obtain a lawful abortion and affirms the Attorney General’s enforcement authority to bring civil actions in cases where a person is prevented, restricted, impeded or retaliated against for traveling across state lines to obtain a lawful abortion.
The Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act of 2022 also prohibits interference against:
- 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 to be 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.