Reproductive Federal Legislation In 2023

Over a year has passed since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. While the dust still settles, the reproductive health and well-being landscape looks starkly different than it did before June 24, 2022. Attacks on abortion and contraception have skyrocketed in the states. However, champions in Congress have been hard at work 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 alone can reverse the harm done by losing the constitutional right to abortion, taken together they would improve access and reduce barriers to care.

Read on to learn more about these important pieces of legislation, as well as what you can do to bolster Congressional support for them. Remember, your voice is needed to help improve access to reproductive health care. Want even more ways to support reproductive well-being? 

Appropriations: Funding for the Title X Family Planning Program and TPP Program
Each year these programs need to be funded, but neither have received increases in years. Contact your representatives and urge them to increase funding for these important programs.

H.R. 4303: Abortion Justice Act
This bill paints a picture of a nation where all people, regardless of who they are, where they live, or how much money they make, have the power to make decisions about their bodies and lives, especially when it comes to abortion. 

S. 1527: Access to Contraception for Servicemembers and Dependents Act 
This bill would ensure that servicemembers and their families who receive health care through TRICARE have access to FDA-approved methods of contraception without a co-pay. (Advocates are working to get this policy included in the National Defense Authorization bill—show your support by taking action here).

H.R. 3589/S. 1698: Affordability is Access Act
This bill would require insurance companies to cover FDA-approved over-the-counter birth control without a prescription. The Affordability is Access Act cites Power to Decide data on contraceptive deserts. Read more in our press release, and tell your representatives to support this important bill by participating in our Voter Voice campaign.

H.R. 2904/S. 1317: Anti-Racism in Public Health Act 
This bill would expand research and investment into how structural racism harms public health, as well as require the federal government to develop anti-racist public health policy. The bill would do so by establishing a National Center for Anti-Racism under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as a Law Enforcement Violence Prevention Program within the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control in the CDC.

H.R. 3305/S. 1606: Black Maternal Health Momnibus
The Black Maternal Health Momnibus is a package of 13 bills that would strategically address the different facets of the Black maternal health crisis by targeting every driver of maternal mortality and morbidity in the US. You can read more about the Momnibus and its legislative priorities in this blog post. 

H.R. 4816/S. 2427: Convenient Contraception Act 
This bill would improve reproductive health by requiring health plans under the jurisdiction of the federal government to cover a 365-day supply of prescription contraceptives dispensed at one time. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have already enacted similar policies. Read more in our press release.

H.R. 3659: Enhancing Questions to Understand Intentions for Pregnancy (EQUIP) Act
This bill would improve reproductive well-being by funding Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) demonstration grants and evaluations of screening tools to determine a patient’s desire to become pregnant. Read more in our press release. 

H.R. 782: Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act 
This bill 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. 561: 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. Read more in our press release, and tell your representatives to support this legislation by participating in our Voter Voice campaign.

H.R. 5008/S.2646: Health Equity and Access under the Law for Immigrant Families (HEAL) Act of 2023
This bill would address legal and policy barriers that immigrant families face in accessing affordable health care, barriers that disproportionately impact immigrant women. Improving access to health care, including reproductive health care, would enable immigrant women to make their own decisions about their bodies and lives. 

H.R. 2907/S. 1297: 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. 4281: Protect Sexual and Reproductive Health Care Act of 2023
This bill would establish an Office of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Well-Being within the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as well as establish a task force of all 15 federal agencies to coordinate a national strategy to improve sexual and reproductive health and well-being. 

H.R. 3583/S. 1697: Real Education and Access for Healthy Youth Act (REAHYA)
This bill would work to address the problems with the current state of sex education in the US by providing young people with the sex education and sexual health services they need to make informed decisions about their bodies and lives. Read more in our blog, and urge your representatives to support this bill by participating in our Voter Voice campaign.

H.R. 4901/S. 2544: 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. 4121/S. 1999: Right to Contraception Act
This bill 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. Read more in our press release. 

H.R. 2736/S. 1231: Stop 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. 12/S. 701: Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) 
This bill 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. Read more in our press release, and urge your representatives to support this legislation by participating in our Voter Voice campaign.