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Rep. Schrier Announces New Bill to Protect Doctors and Access to Abortions

August 29, 2022

WASHINGTON, DC – Today while attending an event at Planned Parenthood in Tacoma, Representative Kim Schrier, M.D. (WA-08), announced that she has introduced the Let Doctors Provide Reproductive Health Care Act. This House bill, a companion to the bill introduced by Senator Murray, has been introduced with the two other pro-choice doctors in Congress, Representatives Ami Bera, M.D. (CA-07) and Raul Ruiz, M.D. (CA-36), and will protect doctors safely performing abortions amid state Republican efforts to strip away a women’s right to choose.

“If, when, and under what circumstances to become a mother is the most important decision a woman will make, and as the only pro-choice woman doctor in Congress, I will continue to do everything I can to protect women’s access to safe abortion. That includes protecting abortion providers,” said Rep. Schrier. “State legislatures across the country are using every tactic possible to restrict access to abortion, including targeting doctors. Doctors should not have their hands tied or fear criminal penalties, loss of licensure, or loss of insurance coverage if they provide abortion care. This bill would preserve doctors’ ability to perform this important medical procedure, and ensure patients and their doctors are the ones making personal medical decisions, not the government."

The bill would protect doctors providing safe abortion care on the federal level, preventing state legislatures from restricting their legal practice or creating uncertainty regarding legal liability. Specifically, the bill would:

  • Protect health care providers in states where abortion is legal from laws that try to prevent them from providing reproductive health care services or make them liable for providing those services to patients from any other state
  • Prohibit any federal funds from being used to pursue legal cases against individuals who access legal reproductive health care services or against health care providers in states where abortion is legal
  • Create a new grant program at the Department of Justice to fund legal assistance or legal education for reproductive health care service providers
  • Create a new grant program at the Department of Health and Human Services to support health care providers in obtaining physical, cyber, or data privacy security upgrades necessary to protect their practice and patients
  • Protect reproductive health care providers from being denied professional liability insurance coverage because of legal services offered to patients

This bill is endorsed by the National Women’s Law Center, National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Catholics for Choice, National Partnership for Women & Families, Center for Reproductive Rights. This bill was introduced in the Senate by Senators Murray, Lujan, Padilla, and Rosen.

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Issues:Health