WASHINGTON – Sen. Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) on July 19 joined Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Richard Blulibmenthal (D.DN-Conn.), Richard Blulibmenthal (D.DN-Conn.) in writing to the Department of Justice (DOJ), urging it to protect the right to travel and constitutional right to interstate travel in line with state-level efforts to block women’s right to travel to other states for abortion care.
Lawmakers also requested a briefing to better understand the DOJ’s assessment of those efforts.
“Health care providers argue that these laws ‘condemn patients to delay abortion care’ because patients must often cross state lines to receive essential health care,” the lawmakers wrote. “Some states are now taking the unusual step of criminalizing women’s right to travel to other states for abortion care.”
More than a year after the Supreme Court decided to ignore 50 years of precedent and reversal Roe v. Wade19 states have enacted near or total bans on abortion, with many others enacting more contradictory, vague, or restrictive laws that put the lives and health of millions of Americans at risk, the senators said.
After the court’s decision, Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed that the decision should not interfere with the constitutional right to travel. However, politicians in many states have begun efforts to curtail access to abortion care by targeting this right.
In May, Idaho enacted a law that prohibits any adult from assisting a youth to travel to another state to receive abortion care with the intent to conceal the abortion from a parent or guardian, even if the pregnancy is the result of incest or parental abuse. Advocates have filed a lawsuit against Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador hoping to overturn the law.
Other states are also considering stricter laws to prevent Americans from traveling to access reproductive care. In January, Iowa lawmakers proposed legislation that would criminalize providers who offer care to out-of-state patients. In Texas and Tennessee, lawmakers are considering legislation that would prohibit any government entity from providing funding to help people obtain abortion care, including costs associated with out-of-state travel for abortion care.
“Given the work of many of our states to protect access to abortion care whether a patient is out of state or traveling from another, we are alarmed by the efforts of other states to restrict interstate travel, which may represent an unprecedented attack on the rights of Americans,” the lawmakers concluded. constitutional right to interstate travel.”
