Press Release
Reproductive Freedom for All Condemns House Passage of Voter Suppression Bill
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, February 11, 2026
Contact: [email protected]
Reproductive Freedom for All Condemns House Passage of Voter Suppression Bill
Washington, DC — Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the so-called Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act—a voter suppression bill designed to disenfranchise millions of Americans before the November midterms. The House narrowly passed a previous version of the same legislation last year, but it stalled in the Senate, prompting House Republicans to relaunch their efforts under a new name and an even more extreme bill. The bill advanced today requires eligible Americans to present proof of citizenship—such as a passport or original copy of their birth certificate—when they register to vote and again at the polls. More than 21 million American citizens don’t have these documents readily available, and more than half of Americans don’t have a passport at all.
This legislation would still block millions of eligible Americans—including married people who have changed their names, trans people, naturalized citizens, and more—from voting. It is not acceptable to block people from exercising their constitutional right to vote—and we have already seen the damage when states have tried. A similar law in Kansas prevented 31,000 eligible voters from registering.
This legislation targets Americans who have long faced systemic barriers to the ballot box, including communities of color, people with disabilities, young people, Indigenous voters, and voters in rural and low-income neighborhoods. House Republicans chose to push this bill during Black History Month—a month to celebrate Black American history and culture, and honor the generations who fought for the right to vote against literacy tests, poll taxes, and violence at the ballot box.
Non-citizens are already prohibited from voting in federal elections. The true intention is to block Americans who oppose Trump and his allies in Congress from exercising their constitutional right to vote. This version goes even further than the original with unprecedented restrictions on mail voting, new purge mechanisms to kick eligible voters off the rolls, and exclusion of commonly-accepted IDs like student IDs and most tribal IDs.
Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju released the following statement:
“Voting is a fundamental right, and House Republicans just voted to take that right away from millions of Americans to avoid accountability at the ballot box. It’s no coincidence that the same lawmakers trying to control our bodies are trying to control who gets to participate in our democracy. Republicans know they can’t win on their unpopular agenda, and they’re losing on the issues their constituents care about most, including affordability, health care, and abortion access. Midterms are nine months away, and Trump and his allies in Congress would rather suppress your vote than earn it.”
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For over 55 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for everybody. Reproductive Freedom for All is powered by its more than 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.