Murray, Duckworth, and Democratic Colleagues Introduce Legislation to Ensure Equal Access to Reproductive Health Care
Murray, Duckworth, and Democratic colleagues in the Senate introduce bill to ensure access to reproductive health care regardless of income, race, location
Bill would lift current restriction preventing women receiving health coverage through government-sponsored plans from having access to the full range of reproductive health care services
Congresswomen Lee, Schakowksy, and DeGette introduced corresponding legislation in the House
Murray: “As the Trump Administration and its allies work as hard as they can to take away access to abortion in our country and move women backward, we need to do even more to lay out our vision for ensuring every woman… can make the decisions that are right for her.”
WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined by several of their Democratic colleagues, introduced legislation today protecting every woman’s constitutionally-guaranteed right to abortion and helping ensure access to reproductive health care for each woman, regardless of income, race, or where in the country they may live. The Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH Woman) Act—which was also introduced in the House by U.S. Representatives Barbara Lee (CA-13), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09) and Diana DeGette (CO-01)—would lift the prohibition in current law preventing women who receive their health coverage through government-sponsored plans such as Medicaid, Medicare, and TRICARE from obtaining legal health care services.
“This bill would help address the unacceptable reality that far too many women, particularly low-income women, young women, women of color, and those who live in rural areas, have the constitutional right to safe, legal abortion in name only—not in practice,” said Senator Murray. “I believe that as the Trump Administration and its allies work as hard as they can to take away access to abortion in our country and move women backward, we need to do even more to lay out our vision for ensuring every woman—regardless of how she is insured, her zip code, or her income—can make the decisions that are right for her.”
The legislation in the Senate was cosponsored by Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Tina Smith (D-MN), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).
Senator Murray also recently spoke on the Senate floor against the Trump Administration’s efforts to undermine women’s health care by changing the Title X family planning program to gag health providers at Title X-funded health centers from fully informing patients about the full range of reproductive health care options available to them, including safe, legal abortion, and to attempt to exclude Planned Parenthood from the program by imposing new, medically unnecessary requirements on Title X-funded health centers that will make health care less accessible for the four million patients who rely on Title X for basic health care services. Senator Murray released an oversight memo highlighting some of the negative impacts of the Trump Administration’s changes to the Title X family planning program, and lifting up some of the many comments patients, providers, city and county officials, religious organizations, and people across the country submitted in opposition to the Trump Administration’s rule.
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