Women's Health Protection Act

The Women's Health Protection Act (H.R. 12) is a piece of legislation introduced in the United States House of Representatives, aimed at expanding abortion rights established in Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992). It was first introduced in 2013 by Congresswoman Judy Chu and sponsored by Senator Richard Blumenthal. In the 117th Congress, the act was re-introduced in response to Whole Woman's Health v. Jackson and later Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. In September 2021, it passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 218–211,^[1] and again by a vote of 219–210 in July 2022,^[2] but it was defeated in the Senate on a 46–48 vote in February 2022^[3][4][5][6] and a 49–51 vote in May 2022.^[7]

Women’s Health Protection Act

Long title	An Act to protect a person's ability to determine whether to continue or end a pregnancy, and to protect a health care provider's ability to provide abortion services.
Acronyms (colloquial)	WHPA
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 12 by Judy Chu (D–CA) on March 30, 2023 Committee consideration by House Energy and Commerce

Among key facets of the bill include preventing state and local governments from regulating abortions before fetal viability, or when the mother's life or health is at risk after fetal viability, and preventing government from restricting access to abortion services unless a compelling state interest has been shown in such restrictions. Violations would be investigated and prosecuted by the Department of Justice.

Legislative history

As of July 10, 2024:

Congress	Short title	Bill number(s)	Date introduced	Sponsor(s)	# of cosponsors	Latest status
113th Congress	Women's Health Protection Act of 2013	H.R. 3471	November 11, 2013	Judy Chu (D-CA)	132	Died in committee.
		S. 1696	November 11, 2013	Richard Blumenthal(D-CT)	35	Died in committee.
114th Congress	Women's Health Protection Act of 2015	H.R. 448	January 21, 2015	Judy Chu (D-CA)	146	Died in committee.
		S. 217	January 21, 2015	Richard Blumenthal(D-CT)	35	Died in committee.
115th Congress	Women's Health Protection Act of 2017	H.R. 1322	March 2, 2017	Judy Chu (D-CA)	169	Died in committee.
		S. 510	March 2, 2017	Richard Blumenthal(D-CT)	42	Died in committee.
116th Congress	Women’s Health Protection Act of 2019	H.R. 2975	May 23, 2019	Judy Chu (D-CA)	217	Died in committee.
		S. 1645	May 23, 2019	Richard Blumenthal(D-CT)	43	Died in committee.
117th Congress	Women's Health Protection Act of 2021	H.R. 3755	June 8, 2021	Judy Chu (D-CA)	215	Cloture not invoked (46-48).
		S. 1975	June 8, 2021	Richard Blumenthal(D-CT)	47	Referred to Committees of Jurisdiction.
	Women's Health Protection Act of 2022	H.R. 8296	June 7, 2022	Judy Chu (D-CA)	3	Passed the House (219-210).
		S. 4132	May 3, 2022	Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)	0	Cloture not invoked (49-51).
118th Congress	Women’s Health Protection Act of 2023	H.R. 12	March 30, 2023	Judy Chu (D-CA)	215	Referred to Subcommittee on Health (April 7, 2023)
		S. 701	March 8, 2023	Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)	49	Second reading (March 9, 2023)

See also

• Abortion in the United States
• United States abortion-rights movement

References

1. Chu, Judy (2021-09-21). "H.R.3755 – 117th Congress (2021–2022): Women's Health Protection Act of 2021". Congress.gov. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
2. Shabad, Rebecca (2022-07-15). "House passes bills to protect abortion rights; Senate GOP to block the legislation". CNBC. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
3. Kapur, Sahil; Vitali, Ali (February 28, 2022). "Senate rejects Democratic bill to codify abortion rights". NBC News. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
4. Morgan, David; Cowan, Richard (2021-09-24). "U.S. House passes abortion rights bill, outlook poor in Senate". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
5. Franck, Thomas (2021-09-24). "House passes bill to protect abortion rights in response to restrictive Texas law". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
6. Hulse, Carl (2021-09-24). "House approves measure to protect abortion rights amid threats from states and the courts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
7. Shivaram, Deepa (2022-05-11). "A bill to codify abortion protections fails in the Senate". NPR. Retrieved 2022-07-28.