Press Releases

LOWELL, MA – This past Friday, Congresswomen Lori Trahan (MA-03) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE-AL), members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee, introduced the Informing New Factors and Options (INFO) for Reproductive Care Act, legislation that will support the creation of a coordinated national public awareness campaign to inform health care professionals on the best ways to help patients navigate the legal landscape following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

“In the three months since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, tens of millions of women and young girls have seen their reproductive rights stripped away and their health care jeopardized. And it’s not just women who are paying the steep price for extreme Republican abortion bans. Health care providers simply trying to care for their patients are being forced to navigate a patchwork of new bans and limitations on abortion care, some of which could land them in jail just for doing their jobs,” said Congresswoman Trahan.” I’m proud to partner with Congresswoman Blunt Rochester to introduce the INFO for Reproductive Care Act, which will ensure providers have the guidance and assurance necessary to provide reproductive care for their patients in a constantly changing legal landscape.”

“Emboldened by the deeply misguided overturning of Roe v. Wade, multiple states across the country jumped at the chance to strip millions of women of their fundamental right to make their own reproductive healthcare decisions through extreme abortion bans and restrictions,” said Congresswoman Blunt Rochester. “Simultaneously, the healthcare professionals whose duty it is to provide reproductive services, support, and resources are now facing an uphill battle – and in some states, potential criminal charges – to provide that essential reproductive care. The INFO for Reproductive Care Act, which I introduced alongside Congresswoman Trahan, will help healthcare professionals navigate the evolving legal landscape as they work to provide critical and often life-saving reproductive services to their patients in post-Roe America.”

After the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Republican states moved swiftly to ban most abortion care options for women. At least 14 states have near total bans on abortion, and other states are moving to enact similar restrictions. The rapid shift in laws, along with the various ways those laws are being enforced, has left many health care professionals to wonder what procedures fall under the umbrella of lifesaving care.

During an Energy and Commerce Committee hearing following the Supreme Court’s decision, American Medical Association President Dr. Jack Resneck said, “Physicians have been placed in an impossible situation — trying to meet their ethical duties to place patient health and well-being first, while attempting to comply with vague, restrictive, complex, and conflicting state laws that interfere in the practice of medicine and jeopardize the health of patients.”

To help inform health care professionals treating patients seeking abortion and greater reproductive care services in a post-Roe America, the INFO for Reproductive Care Act will authorize funding for the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to coordinate a national public awareness campaign to:

• Inform health care professionals of available resources on how to navigate the legal landscape following the overturning of Roe v. Wade;
• Disseminate information on the negative health impacts on communities when access to abortion and other reproductive health care services are restricted or banned.

The INFO for Reproductive Care Act is cosponsored by Representatives Stephen Lynch (MA-08), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-AL), Katie Porter (CA-45), Barbara Lee (CA-13), Nanette Diaz Barragán (CA-44), Lois Frankel (FL-21), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Norma Torres (CA-35), Dina Titus (NV-01), Judy Chu (CA-27), Mondaire Jones (NY-17), and Dwight Evans (PA-03).

A copy of the legislation can be accessed HERE.

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