On Third Anniversary of Roe Being Overturned, Padilla Joins Senate Democrats in Introducing Bill to Restore Abortion Access Nationwide
Women’s Health Protection Act comes as Trump and Congressional Republicans escalate attacks on reproductive freedom and advance a national abortion ban
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On the third anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) joined the entire Senate Democratic caucus in introducing the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2025, legislation to guarantee access to abortion nationwide and restore the right to comprehensive reproductive health care for millions of Americans. The bill’s introduction comes as the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans continue their attacks on a woman’s right to choose, including legislation that would defund Planned Parenthood.
Together, Trump and Congressional Republicans’ assault on Americans’ reproductive rights is effectively a backdoor national abortion ban, ripping away millions of women’s access to abortion care and their right to control their own bodies. The Women’s Health Protection Act is led by U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
“Reproductive health care and access to safe abortion services are fundamental rights,” said Senator Padilla. “In the three years since the Supreme Court stripped away the right to an abortion for millions of women, Republicans have repeatedly attacked women’s bodily autonomy and safety as President Trump continues his cruel assault on reproductive liberty. The Women’s Health Protection Act will safeguard reproductive freedoms and ensure that a woman’s health care decisions stay between her and her doctor. We must restore the rights of millions of Americans to access reproductive health care, regardless of where they live.”
“First, Donald Trump and Republicans overturned Roe v Wade. Now, they are continuing their crusade for a national abortion ban, stripping away a woman’s right to choose and control her body, healthcare, and future. Republicans continue to show that they will stop at nothing in their pursuit to stop a woman from having the right to choose,” said Senator Baldwin. “In Wisconsin, we’ve seen how these attacks on women’s reproductive rights and freedoms have hurt our neighbors, friends, and families – and we won’t stand for it. The Women’s Health Protection Act is a necessary step to restore Americans’ constitutional right to choose what’s best for their families, stop Congressional and state-level Republicans from further putting themselves between a doctor and a woman, and once and for all, give women their rights and freedoms back.”
“This issue is about more than health care; it is about women’s rights, individual rights, and human rights. The foundation of the Women’s Health Protection Act is simply the right to make your own health care decisions. Three years after Dobbs, American women don’t have that right. Today, thanks to Republican lawmakers and conservative courts, a woman in America might walk into an ER and faint, bleeding, and be refused treatment. That woman might die,” said Senator Blumenthal. “By restoring abortion access and implementing basic protections against medically unnecessary restrictions on health care, the Women’s Health Protection Act overturns the death sentence handed down by Dobbs.”
“Three years ago, Donald Trump and Republicans succeeded in overturning Roe, ripping away a Constitutional right for the first time in American history, and causing a full-blown health care crisis in our nation. Since then, we have seen with painful clarity how Republican abortion bans are putting women’s lives in danger, forcing providers to close their doors, decimating access to maternal health care, and forcing women to remain pregnant—no matter their circumstances,” said Senator Murray. “I’m proud to join my colleagues in reintroducing the Women’s Health Protection Act to restore the right to abortion and end the national nightmare Republicans created by overturning Roe. Democrats will never stop fighting to restore abortion access nationwide—nothing less.”
President Trump appointed Supreme Court Justices who ruled in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case to overturn Roe v. Wade and nearly 50 years of precedent. Since the Dobbs decision, 19 states have banned abortion or severely restricted women from being able to access the procedure, leaving one in three American women without access to safe, legal abortion care. Additionally, state legislatures across the country have introduced hundreds of bills to include medically unnecessary restrictions that limit access to abortion care.
In his second term, President Trump has continued to relentlessly attack reproductive rights, including freezing Title X funding for clinics that offer reproductive care, cutting Biden-era emergency abortion protections, pardoning anti-abortion extremists, and fighting to defund Planned Parenthood. Additionally, the House-passed Republican budget bill kicks 16 million people off their health insurance and defunds Planned Parenthood — threatening the closure of 200 health centers across the country and putting access to vital reproductive care for millions of families at risk.
The Women’s Health Protection Act creates federal rights for patients and providers to protect abortion access. Specifically, the bill would:
- Prohibit states from imposing restrictions that jeopardize access to abortion earlier in pregnancy, including many of the state-level restrictions in place prior to Dobbs, such as arbitrary waiting periods, medically unnecessary mandatory ultrasounds, or requirements to provide medically inaccurate information;
- Ensure that later in pregnancy, states cannot limit access to abortion if it would jeopardize the life or health of the mother; and
- Protect the ability to travel out of state for an abortion, which has become increasingly common in recent years.
In addition to Senators Padilla, Baldwin, Blumenthal, and Murray, the legislation is sponsored by the rest of the Democratic caucus, including Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Angus King (I-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
Senator Padilla is a staunch defender of reproductive rights. Three years ago, Padilla sharply rebuked the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. He also criticized the ongoing attacks on reproductive health care access in 2023 during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled “The Assault on Reproductive Rights in a Post-Dobbs America.” On the two-year anniversary of the Dobbs ruling, Padilla joined the Women’s March Foundation and advocates from Planned Parenthood California and Los Angeles to deliver remarks at a reproductive rights rally at Los Angeles City Hall as part of the National Walk-Out for Women.
As a cosponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act, Padilla is fighting to protect abortion access throughout the United States. In 2023, he and Senator Murray introduced legislation to protect doctors who provide abortions from attempts to restrict their practice and create uncertainty about their legal liability. While Republican-led state legislatures work to deny reproductive rights, he’s also fighting to protect patients’ rights to travel freely between states to access abortion care.
A one-pager on the bill is available here.
Full text of the bill is available here.
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