Press Release National
Press Release
Reproductive Freedom for All Releases 2023 Congressional Record on Reproductive Freedom
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, February 28, 2024
Contact: [email protected]
Reproductive Freedom for All Releases 2023 Congressional Record on Reproductive Freedom
Washington, DC — Today, Reproductive Freedom for All released its annual Congressional Record on Reproductive Freedom. This report documents votes pertaining to reproductive freedom taken by all members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate during the first session of the 118th Congress.
Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju released the following statement in response:
“Americans support reproductive freedom and want their leaders in Washington to fight for it—and that’s exactly what Congressional Democrats did during the 118th Congress. We’re grateful to our champions—including Leaders Jeffries and Schumer—for working to protect reproductive freedom. We need innovative federal policy that advances abortion rights and access for all of us. When Democrats take back the House and hold the Senate in November, we fully intend to work with them to make it happen.”
During the 118th Congress, we saw bold leadership from House and Senate Democrats in their efforts to restore abortion rights and protect reproductive freedom. For the first time ever, Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) marked the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) among Democrats’ top 10 priority pieces of legislation. Champions in the Senate once again took to the floor to seek unanimous consent to pass several bills to protect reproductive freedom—including legislation on the right to contraception, the right to travel for abortion care, protections for providers, and protecting people’s online health and location data—yet, Senate Republicans prevented every single measure from being adopted. Meanwhile, Republicans continued their assault on reproductive freedom and abortion access. In the House, where the GOP holds a majority, two of the first votes they took in 2023 were on anti-abortion legislation.
The release of the Congressional Record on Reproductive Freedom comes at a pivotal moment for abortion rights and access. With the threat of a national abortion ban on the horizon should MAGA Republicans take power in Congress and the White House, it’s never been more important to ensure reproductive freedom champions hold office up and down the ballot who will fight to restore the right to abortion and expand access to care. Already, 21 states have eliminated or restricted access because of abortion bans, and anti-abortion Republicans in the states and Congress are working to set up even more barriers to care. With their fundamental right to abortion on the line, voters want to see their leaders in Congress both speak out in support of reproductive freedom and work to enact policies that protect and expand abortion access.
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For over 50 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.