Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 8297 - Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of 2022

STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY

(House Rules)
(Rep. Fletcher, D-TX, and 112 cosponsors)

The Administration strongly supports House passage of H.R. 8297, the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of 2022.

Today, fundamental rights to privacy, autonomy, freedom, and equality are in jeopardy. The Supreme Court has upended almost 50 years of precedent in overturning Roe v. Wade, eliminating a constitutional right it had previously recognized. A woman's right to choose is now denied in many states across the country.

However, abortion remains safe and legal in many states—and each state has the right to protect the providers who provide that care, as well as the patients who access it, including patients traveling from out of state.

As women's health clinics shutter across the country, it has never been more important to ensure Americans have access to critical reproductive health care services. For many, this will require they cross state lines to a state that still protects a woman's right to make deeply private reproductive health care decisions.

The Supreme Court's decision does not prevent women from traveling to another state to receive care. It does not prevent a doctor in that state from treating her. But we know that those opposed to women's fundamental rights will seek to further restrict reproductive freedom— including by attacking the fundamental right to travel.

In the face of this un-American threat to fundamental freedoms, this bill explicitly protects the right to travel across state lines for medical care—and makes clear the federal government's responsibility to safeguard that right for all Americans. The bill reflects the fact that women who reside in states that have banned access to comprehensive reproductive health care must remain free to seek that care in states where it is legal—and providers must remain free to treat patients from out of state who need medical care. This bill also protects interstate access to FDA-approved medication abortion, the method used by more than half of those exercising their right to choose.

The Administration looks forward to working with Congress to protect the right to travel across state lines for medical care, and urges Congress to move quickly to pass the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of 2022.