What You Can Do to Support Congressional Efforts to Protect Reproductive Health and Rights Post-Dobbs

Updated November 7, 2022

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on June 24, 2022, champions in Congress leapt into action by introducing a variety of bills to affirm and strengthen federal protections for reproductive health care and increase access for those most impacted by state abortion bans and restrictions.

These bills target the variety of ways access to abortion, contraception, and other reproductive health care has been affected in the wake of the Dobbs decision. While none of these bills on their own can reverse the harm caused by losing the constitutional right to abortion, each one would improve access and reduce barriers to care. 

Keep reading to learn more about these pieces of legislation and what you can do to support access to reproductive health care:

• H.R. 6005/S. 3223: Access to Birth Control Act
  This bill would ensure that those seeking birth control have access to their preferred method in a timely manner and would prohibit pharmacists from refusing to fill a contraceptive prescription. 
• H.R. 8297: Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act 
  This bill, which has passed the House, makes clear that people seeking abortion care maintain their right to cross state lines to access the care they need. It would also protect the people who help those seeking care, including the health care providers acting within the laws of their own state.
• H.R. 2234/S. 1021: Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH) Act 
  This bill would eliminate bans on covering abortion or providing abortion care through federal programs (including Medicaid, Indian Health Service, and the Veteran’s Administration). It would also protect against federal interference with private health insurance companies that choose to offer coverage for abortion care. 
• S. 4550: Expanding Access to Family Planning Act 
  This bill would ensure $500 million in additional funding for Title X Family Planning Program services over each of the next 10 years. It would also make funding available for the maintenance and construction of new and existing health clinics and restore federal regulations to protect Title X providers from discrimination.
• S. 4504: Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act of 2022
  This bill would protect the constitutional right to travel across states lines to receive abortion care, as well as the right to help a loved one access that care.
• S. 4723: Let Doctors Provide Reproductive Health Care Act
  This bill would protect doctors against extremist attacks and ensure providers are safe from any efforts to restrict their practice or create uncertainty about their legal liability.
• H.R. 8524: Protect Sexual and Reproductive Health Act of 2022
  This bill would establish an Office of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Well-Being within US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); create a task force comprised of all 15 federal agencies to coordinate a national strategy on sexual and reproductive health and well-being (SRHW); and establish a $2.5 billion grant to support programs and services to improve SRHW, including access to health care, doula care, legal aid, housing and food assistance, comprehensive sex ed, and behavioral health counseling.
• H.R. 9040/S. 4764: Reproductive Health Care Accessibility Act
  This bill would help ensure people with disabilities, who already face barriers to care, have access to the reproductive health care they need to have control over their lives and bodies. 
• H.R. 8452: Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act 
  The legislation would set up a grant program through the HHS to help ease the financial burden of pregnant people who live in states with abortion bans that need to travel long distances to access safe and legal reproductive health care.
• H.R. 8373/S. 4557: Right to Contraception Act 
  This bill, which has passed the House, would affirm the right to birth control and related counseling, as well as the right for health care professionals to provide contraceptive care and information. 
• H.R. 8210/S. 4469: Stop Anti-Abortion Disinformation (SAD) Act
  This bill would direct the Federal Trade Commission to take action against deceptive advertising practices by so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” (CPCs). If passed, the bill will ban CPCs from making false or misleading statements about what reproductive health care services they do—and do not—provide.
• H.R. 8296/S. 4132: Women’s Health Protection Act of 2022 
  This bill, which has passed the House, would create a statutory right for health care providers to provide abortion care, and a corresponding right for their patients to receive abortion care without medically unnecessary restrictions (such as mandatory waiting periods, ultrasounds, or biased counseling) that single out abortion care and impede access. 
• H.R. 9247: Abortion Care Awareness Act of 2022
  This bill would raise awareness about abortion and provide unbiased, fact-based education to the public. Under the bill, the Department of Health and Human Services would be directed to conduct a public health campaign on education, awareness, and outreach in order to increase access to and knowledge about abortion and other reproductive health services.

You can take action by urging your members of Congress to support these bills through our VoterVoice campaign. Please let your representatives know that these pieces of legislation are critical to helping ensure that everyone has the power to decide if, when, and under what circumstances to get pregnant and have a child.

Sofia Gonzalez is the Public Policy Coordinator at Power to Decide–she helps Power to Decide achieve its policy goals through advocacy and supporting the Policy department. She holds a BA in Gender Studies and American Studies from George Washington University.