In order to protect a person's ability to travel across states for reproductive care like abortions and contraception, a group of Senate Democrats unveiled an important legislation on Tuesday.
Democratic Sens. Patty Murray (Washington) and Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.) passed the legislation that is titled "Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act of 2022." The bill would give the U.S. attorney general the ability to take civil action against states that try to enact or enforce laws restricting or penalizing travel for abortion would also be able to take civil action against states, The Hill reported.
Citing the 14th Amendment as well as prior Supreme Court rulings on interstate travel, the bill explicitly outlaws any attempts to "restrict or in way sanction, hold liable, discriminate against, or otherwise disadvantage any individual from travelling to another State to receive or provide reproductive health care that is legal in that State."
The White House has similarly moved to protect the ability to travel across state lines in order to receive reproductive services like abortions and several companies have also announced their intentions to cover the cost of travel for their employees who have to travel out-of-state to receive an abortion.
Companies including Amazon, Conde Nast, Disney, Meta and JPMorgan Chase have all stated their plans of covering travel costs for their employees seeking abortions, reported The Hill.
"Restricting women's right to travel across state lines is truly radical--and un-American. Our bill would protect Americans' constitutional right to travel across state lines to get a lawful abortion--and protect the providers who care for them. Even as Republicans go to the ends of the Earth to strip away our constitutional rights, Democrats are fighting back to protect them," Murray said.
Other co-sponsors of the bill include Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Raphael Warnock (Ga.) and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.)
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of the US abolished abortion rights while overturning the constitutional right granted to women in a historical 1973 ruling called Roe vs Wade. Through this abortion was legalized across the states.
The Supreme Court has struck down Roe vs Wade, eliminating the nearly 50-year-old constitutional right to abortion.At least nine states have banned abortion so far including Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin. A dozen more states are expected to prohibit or restrict the procedure in the coming weeks.
"The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled, and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives," the ruling said.Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court in an order passed on June 27, 2022, granted liberty to a minor girl to undergo medical termination of her pregnancy.
( With inputs from ANI )
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