DeGette, Crow join House Democrats to reintroduce bill that would protect abortion access nationwide

Mar 31, 2023 | 4:26 pm ET

By Lindsey Toomer

DeGette, Crow join House Democrats to reintroduce bill that would protect abortion access nationwide

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette of Denver speaks at a press conference following the re-introduction of the Women's Health Protection Act in Washington, D.C., on March 30, 2023. (Courtesy of Diana DeGette's office)

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives re-introduced a bill intended to restore the right to access abortion care following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last year.

With over 200 co-sponsors in the House, including Diana DeGette of Denver and Jason Crow of Centennial, the Women’s Health Protection Act would make it a federal right for medical professionals to provide abortion care and for those who need abortion care to get it. The bill, despite restrictions or bans that have been enacted at the state level, would codify the protections previously in place under Roe v. Wade.

The legislation passed the Democratic-controlled House twice last session and wasn’t picked up in the Senate, but it will likely face opposition in the Republican-controlled House this time around.

“We will use every opportunity and tool at our disposal to make sure that we find a way to pass this bill even though the leadership of the House is against it,” DeGette said at a press conference in Washington D.C. “We will fight every day, in every way to make sure this is the law of the land.”

DeGette, who co-chairs the House Pro-Choice Caucus, said the Supreme Court’s decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe, was the first time in the country’s history that Americans lost a right, which they previously had for almost 50 years. She shared stories of an 11-year-old who needed to travel across state lines to receive an abortion and of pregnant women in Texas who was told they had to wait until they went into sepsis before they could be treated.

“Abortion is health care,” Crow said in a news release. “It’s past time for every woman across the country to have constitutionally guaranteed access to reproductive health care. This legislation would protect women’s fundamental right to an abortion across the country.”

Colorado continues to prioritize reproductive health care as a right, while other states are moving to further restrict access. Idaho’s governor will soon see a bill on his desk that would criminalize taking a minor out of state for abortion care without parental permission.