As a second Trump administration approaches, we’re running out of time to confirm as many federal judges as possible to provide a check on his presidential power and curb his stated policy priorities.
There are 40 federal judicial vacancies and 16 nominations before the Senate right now—as our civil rights hang in the balance, take action now!
NWLC Testimony in support of the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on The Constitution for the hearing, “Protecting Roe: Why We Need the Women’s Health Protection Act.”
Abortion access is in a crisis that demands immediate and comprehensive action from federal lawmakers. Congress needs to protect the right to abortion, ensure the ability to access abortion care, and stop the unrelenting attacks on the right to abortion. Congress can start by passing the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA). WHPA is federal legislation that creates a statutory right for health care providers to provide abortion care, and a corresponding right for their patients to receive that care, free from medically unnecessary restrictions that single out abortion and impede access. This bill would safeguard against many of the state laws that make it harder or impossible for people to access abortion. WHPA would make it clear that abortion bans like Mississippi’s – as well as the web of abortion restrictions that for too long have blocked people’s ability to exercise their constitutional right – cannot continue.
The anti-abortion laws that WHPA will address restrict people’s control over their bodies and decisions, rely on and perpetuate harmful and discriminatory sex-based stereotypes, and threaten pregnant peoples’ economic security and opportunity. In so doing, abortion restrictions limit people’s ability to dictate their life’s course and participate fully and equally in social and economic life, violating their rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. Due to these persistent violations, Congress can – and must – act to protect the right of every person to access affordable and available abortion care.
