Abortion Justice Act Introduced in Congress

On June 22, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) marked the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision by introducing the Abortion Justice Act alongside Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), Rep. Nikema Williams (D-Ga.), Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), and Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) as well as reproductive justice and rights advocates. The bill would protect patients, including immigrants, and providers from criminalization; remove systemic barriers to care; and ensure abortion care is covered by insurance. It also calls for necessary federal investments in abortion care including training, research, outreach, doula care, innovation, and access.

“In a truly just America, everyone is free to make decisions about their lives, their bodies, and their futures with dignity — including the decision to pursue abortion care without fear, shame, or systemic barriers,” said Pressley, lead sponsor of the bill and chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus’ Abortion Rights and Access Task Force, at the press conference announcing the bill. “Abortion care is health care and a fundamental human right, but access to this right has been stripped away from far too many, exacerbating many of the inequities and disparities that harm our most vulnerable. Our Abortion Justice Act builds the infrastructure necessary to systematically expand access to care. A just America is possible, and I look forward to the day where our bodily autonomy is our own.”

The bill grew out of the Action Plan for Abortion Justice created in the aftermath of the Dobbs decision by All* Above All, an advocacy organization that works at the state and federal level to create proactive abortion policy and legislation, along with 150 of its partner organizations. “We had listening sessions with our partner organizations and asked people to dream about what new, bold proactive policies would look like,” said Morgan Hopkins, president of All* Above All. “What we heard became the Action Plan, and there was no one better positioned than Ayanna Pressley to turn it into federal legislation.”

All* Above All is currently working with its partners across the country to engage their federal legislators to consider supporting the bill. “We may not have the votes today, but who knows what’s in the future?” said Hopkins. “We can’t just be against something, we have to be for something. And the pandemic has shown us what the federal government is capable of. Imagine if they put that level of resources into comprehensive abortion care and reproductive health care.”

Advocates who worked on the bill were particularly mindful of the more than 15 million reproductive-age women of color who live in the 26 states that ban abortion or are likely to ban abortion; this includes 6.7 million Latinas. “As we partnered with All* Above All and the other organizations on this bill, an important principle for us was that we centered access for immigrants and not only mitigate the harm that’s been done but also create a bold vision for what abortion access for everyone could be,” said Candace Gibson, director of government relations at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice. “And in addition to getting the bill passed, we also hope that the bill will motivate other policymakers, whether at the local or state or federal level, to create similar legislation. We also wanted to be in solidarity with individuals in banned states and to say ‘You’re not alone.’ From a policy perspective, we wanted to address all the barriers to abortion access, so we included provisions to deal with things like insurance coverage, medical training, and ensuring that immigration enforcement would not be near clinics. Since Dobbs, more people are realizing the practical harms of having this right taken away and that we can’t just rely on a legal right to abortion; there needs to be a multipronged approach to truly ensure access for everyone.”

For many, the Dobbsdecision has been a real wake-up call, making people realize just how dire the political situation is and motivating them to become involved. “Dobbs really helped people see that we need big and bold solutions to the ongoing reproductive health care crisis across our country, and the Abortion Justice Act is a big and bold solution,” said Shannon Russell, director of policy at Catholics for Choice, a partnering organization with All* Above All. “Prior to Dobbs, people didn’t believe that the Supreme Court would really overturn Roe. When five Justices who are or were raised Catholic did so, it motivated people to be more vocal, and Catholics who used to be more quietly pro-choice realized, ‘I need to add my voice to the chorus of the faithful pro-choice Catholic majority.’ The bill encapsulates that feeling. Abortion is part of the life of the Catholic Church: one in four abortion patients is Catholic.”

Hopkins and the other advocates who were instrumental in drafting the legislation were deliberate in their choice of language for the bill. “The fact that the word abortion is in the title of this bill means a lot,” said Stephanie Gómez, an advocate from Texas and an abortion storyteller with We Testify, an organization dedicated to the leadership and representation of people who have abortions and also a partnering organization with All* Above All. “People try to shy away from using the word, and that only adds to this misperception that there is something shameful about it or that ‘good girls’ don’t get abortions. It’s a medical procedure and that’s it. This work has been happening way before Dobbs, before I got my abortion in 2012, before I was even born, and [we’re seeing] the fruit of all that labor in this moment right now where people are really expressing their outrage and being so much more open about talking about abortion.”

A June 22 poll found that 69% of voters would support a federal law to protect the right to abortion. “Poll after poll shows that people support access to abortion — people don’t want their fundamental freedoms taken away, and Dobbs feels like a slippery slope,” said Hopkins. “As tough as this last year has been, if there is a ‘silver lining’ it’s that we now have an audience that we didn’t have before. So we have an opportunity right now and we are juggling the real current need and harm reduction with the long-term aspirational legislative goals.”