H.R. 12 — Women’s Health Protection Act of 2025

This section establishes the short title of the Act as the “Women’s Health Protection Act of 2025.”

This section provides congressional findings that abortion services are essential health care and that access to abortion is central to reproductive justice, equal participation in economic and social life, and self-determination over pregnancy and family decisions. It states that abortion care is a human right that should not depend on ZIP Code, region, age, race, national origin, immigration status, sex, or disability status, and it describes a patchwork of access across the United States. This section also finds that the Supreme Court’s June 24, 2022, decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overruled Roe v. Wade and led to immediate restrictions on abortion access. It states that, within 100 days of Dobbs, 66 clinics in 15 States stopped offering abortions, and that as of January 2025 abortion is unavailable in 14 States, leaving 17.98 million women ages 15 to 49, as well as transgender and gender nonconforming individuals, without access in their home State. It further finds that travel time to abortion clinics has quadrupled since Dobbs, increasing associated costs for time off work or school, lost wages, transportation, lodging, and child care. This section further finds that abortion restrictions have long limited access through insurance coverage prohibitions, mandatory parental involvement laws, stigmatizing restrictions, and medically unnecessary regulations. It cites the Turnaway Study to state that people denied wanted abortions are more likely to experience poverty, debt, and lower credit scores over several years, and that control over childbearing improves economic security and maternal bonding. This section additionally finds that abortion bans and restrictions worsen the maternal health crisis, noting that the United States has the highest maternal mortality rate among industrialized nations, that Black women and birthing people face three times the risk of pregnancy-related death as white counterparts, that gestation-based abortion restrictions increased maternal mortality by 38 percent, and that a nationwide ban would increase maternal mortality by an additional 24 percent. It also finds that States with abortion bans or severe restrictions have fewer maternal health providers, more maternity-care deserts, higher maternal and infant mortality, and greater racial inequity in health care. This section finally finds that abortion restrictions reduce access to other health services provided by targeted clinicians, including contraceptive services, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, LGBTQ health services, and referrals for primary care, intimate partner violence prevention, prenatal care, and adoption services. It states that the Dobbs decision has worsened these effects by leading clinicians and pharmacists to deny medications used for both abortion care and other conditions, and by causing delays or denials in treatment for ectopic pregnancies and miscarriage management.

This section states the purposes of the Act: to permit people to seek and obtain abortion services, and to permit health care providers to provide abortion services, without restrictions that single out abortion for more burdensome treatment than medically comparable procedures, do not significantly advance reproductive health or abortion safety based on established clinical practice guidelines and medical evidence, or make abortion services more difficult to access; to promote access to abortion services and protect women’s ability to participate equally in the economic and social life of the United States; to protect people’s ability to make decisions about their bodies, medical care, family, and life’s course; and to eliminate burdens on commerce and the right to travel. It also states that abortion bans and restrictions affect interstate commerce because providers and patients engage in interstate economic activity, including purchasing medicine and medical equipment, obtaining training, employing and obtaining services from health care personnel, receiving telemedicine services, and traveling across state lines for abortion care, and it cites Congress’s authority under the Commerce Clause, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Necessary and Proper Clause.

This section establishes definitions for the act, including “abortion services” as an abortion and related medical or non-medical services provided in conjunction with an abortion; “government” as any branch, department, agency, instrumentality, or official of the United States or a State; and “health care provider” as any entity or individual engaged in delivering health care services, including abortion services, that is licensed or certified when required by law, or would be licensed or certified but for past, present, or potential provision of abortion services protected by section 5. It also defines “medically comparable procedures” as procedures similar under established clinical practice guidelines in health and safety risks, complexity, or clinical setting; “pregnancy” as beginning with implantation of a fertilized egg; “State” to include the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. territories and possessions, and their political subdivisions; and “viability” as the point at which the treating health care provider, in good faith and based on the facts of the case, determines there is a reasonable likelihood of sustained fetal survival outside the uterus with or without artificial support.

This section establishes a federal right for a health care provider to provide abortion services and for a patient to obtain an abortion before viability without being subject to 10 categories of state or other restrictions, including bans on pre-viability abortion; limits on abortion-related drugs, telemedicine, or patient assistance; medically unnecessary testing or in-person visits; inaccurate counseling; facility, staffing, or transfer requirements not imposed on comparable procedures; and restrictions based on the patient’s reasons for seeking an abortion. It also provides that after viability, a provider and patient have a corresponding right to terminate a pregnancy when, in the treating provider’s good-faith medical judgment, the abortion is necessary to protect the patient’s life or health, while allowing states to permit additional post-viability circumstances. This section further bars any other limitation or requirement that expressly, effectively, implicitly, or as implemented targets abortion or abortion-related assistance and impedes access to abortion services, and it directs courts to consider whether a restriction interferes with care, delays or deters access, increases costs, requires travel, or reduces the availability of abortion services.

This section establishes a statutory right to travel to another State to obtain reproductive health services, including prenatal, childbirth, fertility, and abortion services, and a right to assist another person in obtaining those services or otherwise exercising that right.

This section establishes that the Act supersedes any inconsistent Federal or State law, including laws adopted before or after enactment, and prohibits Federal or State officials from administering or enforcing conflicting laws, rules, regulations, standards, or other provisions, notwithstanding the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.). It also provides that Federal laws enacted after enactment of the Act are subject to the Act unless they explicitly exclude that application by reference to the Act. This section limits the Act’s preemptive effect by specifying that it does not supersede or apply to: (1) laws regulating physical access to clinic entrances, including the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994 (18 U.S.C. 248); (2) laws regulating insurance or medical assistance coverage of abortion services; (3) the procedure described in 18 U.S.C. § 1531(b)(1); or (4) generally applicable State contract law. This section also creates a preemption defense in any legal or administrative action against a person or entity who has exercised or attempted to exercise a right protected by section 5 or 6, or who has assisted such a person or entity, allowing that person or entity to invoke the Act as a defense in addition to the remedies specified in section 9.

This section directs courts to liberally construe the Act to effectuate its purposes, prohibits the Act from being read to authorize government interference with abortion services before viability or after viability when the treating health care provider, in good-faith medical judgment, determines that continuing the pregnancy would pose a risk to the pregnant patient’s life or health, and treats any person authorized by Federal or State law, including through a private cause of action, to enforce a limitation or requirement that violates section 5 or 6 as a government official for purposes of the Act.

This section establishes civil enforcement authority for violations of sections 5 and 6 by authorizing the Attorney General to sue a State or government official in federal district court, and by allowing any individual or entity adversely affected by an alleged violation, including a health care provider, to bring a private civil action. It also authorizes pre-enforcement challenges to prevent implementation of a State limitation or requirement that is inconsistent with sections 5 or 6, and permits courts to award declaratory relief, temporary, preliminary, or permanent injunctive relief, and costs and reasonable attorney’s fees to prevailing plaintiffs. In addition, it grants federal district courts jurisdiction without requiring exhaustion of administrative or other remedies, and abrogates State immunity under the Tenth Amendment, the Eleventh Amendment, and other sources of law for covered actions, unless immunity is required by clearly established Federal law as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States.

This section provides that the Act takes effect on the date of enactment.

This section establishes severability by providing that if any provision of the Act, or its application to any person, entity, government, or circumstance, is held unconstitutional, the remainder of the Act and its application to other persons, entities, governments, or circumstances shall not be affected.