Washington, D.C. — Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper joined the Senate Democratic caucus to introduce the Women’s Health Protection Act, legislation to guarantee access to abortion nationwide, on the third anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
In June 2022, the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision revoked the national right to an abortion, overturning 50 years of legal precedent established by Roe. The ruling stripped abortion access and essential reproductive health care from millions of Americans.
“Three years ago today, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court overturned fifty years of legal precedent,” said Bennet. “Since then, maternal mortality rates have grown consistently in states where access to abortions are restricted or banned. Passing the Women’s Health Protection Act will save lives. We must ensure that women can make their own decisions about their bodies and their futures. I will continue to fight for access to reproductive health care in Colorado and across the United States.”
“Three years ago, the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision shredded 50 years of precedent, erasing women’s freedom to make their own health decisions,” said Hickenlooper. “Americans overwhelmingly support Roe’s protections. Let’s return those rights back where they belong.”
Since the Dobbs decision, 19 states have implemented near-total abortion bans, leaving one in three American women without access to safe, legal abortion care. The Trump administration and congressional Republicans have continued targeting Americans’ reproductive rights and undermining millions of women’s access to abortion care.
The Women’s Health Protection Act will establish federal rights for patients and providers to protect abortion access and create federal protections against medically unnecessary restrictions that undermine Americans’ access to health care.
Specifically, the Women’s Health Protection Act will:
- Prohibit states from imposing restrictions that jeopardize access to abortion earlier in pregnancy, including many of the state-level restrictions in place prior to Dobbs, such as arbitrary waiting periods, medically unnecessary mandatory ultrasounds, or requirements to provide medically inaccurate information;
- Ensure that later in pregnancy, states cannot limit access to abortion if it would jeopardize the life or health of the mother; and
- Protect the ability to travel out of state for an abortion, which has become increasingly common in recent years.
Bennet has long fought to protect reproductive rights. Following the Supreme Court’s dangerous and deeply harmful decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, he has worked to restore the right to abortion and ensure every American has access to safe and affordable reproductive health care. Bennet first cosponsored the Women’s Health Protection Act in 2017. In February 2023, Bennet introduced the Secure Access for Essential Reproductive (SAFER) Health Act to expand patient privacy protections and prohibit medical providers from disclosing personal health information related to abortion or pregnancy loss without patient consent. In April 2023, Bennet reintroduced the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH) Act, a bicameral bill that would guarantee abortion coverage without restrictions for millions of Americans.
The text of the bill is available HERE.