Padilla, Colleagues Urge DOJ to Do More to Protect Americans’ Right to Travel for Reproductive Health Care
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and John Fetterman (D-Pa.) wrote to the Department of Justice (DOJ) urging the Department to protect the constitutional right to interstate travel following state-level efforts to impede women’s right to travel to other states for abortion care. The lawmakers are also requesting a briefing to better understand DOJ’s assessment of these efforts.
More than one year after the Supreme Court ignored 50 years of precedent and overturned Roe v. Wade, 19 states have implemented near or total abortion bans, with many others implementing additional conflicting, vague, or restrictive laws that endanger the lives and health of millions of Americans.
“Health care providers have explained that these laws ‘are condemning patients to delays in abortion care’ because patients must often cross state lines to receive essential health care,” wrote the lawmakers. “Some states are now taking the extraordinary step of criminalizing women’s right to travel to other states for abortion care.”
After the Court’s ruling, Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed that the decision should not interfere with the constitutional right to travel. However, politicians in a number of states have begun efforts to infringe on access to abortion care by targeting this right.
In May, Idaho implemented a law prohibiting any adult from helping a young person travel to another state to receive abortion care with the intent to conceal an abortion from a parent or guardian, even if the pregnancy is a result of incest or parental abuse. This week, advocates filed a lawsuit against Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador hoping to overturn the law.
Other states are also considering dangerous and restrictive laws to prevent Americans from traveling to access reproductive care. In January, lawmakers in Iowa proposed legislation that would criminalize providers offering care to out-of-state patients. In both Texas and Tennessee, lawmakers are considering legislation that would prohibit any governmental entity from providing funding to assist people in obtaining abortion care, including costs associated with traveling out of state for abortion care.
“Given the work of many of our states to protect access to abortion care no matter whether a patient comes from the state or travels from another, we are alarmed by efforts in other states to curb interstate travel, which may present an unprecedented attack on Americans’ rights,” concluded the lawmakers. “We are writing to better understand DOJ’s assessment of efforts to infringe on Americans’ right to travel and the constitutional right to interstate travel.”
Padilla previously introduced the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act, legislation that would make it clear that it is illegal for anti-choice states to limit travel for abortion services and that would empower the U.S. Attorney General and impacted individuals to bring civil action against those who restrict a person’s right to cross state lines to receive legal reproductive care. Padilla also successfully secured commitments from SafeGraph and Placer.ai, two data brokers, to permanently stop selling the location data of people who visit abortion clinics.
Full text of the letter is available here and below:
Dear Attorney General Garland:
It has been over one year since the Supreme Court issued its devastating decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturning Roe v. Wade and eliminating the constitutional right to an abortion. In that time, 19 states have implemented near or total abortion bans, with many others implementing additional conflicting, vague, or restrictive laws that endanger the lives and health of millions of Americans. Health care providers have explained that these laws “are condemning patients to delays in abortion care” because patients must often cross state lines to receive essential health care. Some states are now taking the extraordinary step of criminalizing women’s right to travel to other states for abortion care.
In June 2022, the Supreme Court in the Dobbs case stripped women of their right to obtain an abortion, instead leaving them at the vagaries of state laws – many of which now ban or severely restrict the right. However, the Court did not give states the authority to prevent or restrict Americans from crossing state lines to access abortion care. In his concurring opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh explicitly stated that a state may not “bar a resident… from traveling to another state to obtain an abortion” because it conflicts with “the constitutional right to interstate travel.”
Following the Court’s ruling, you confirmed that the decision in Dobbs should not interfere with Americans’ right to travel:
“[T]he Constitution continues to restrict states’ authority to ban reproductive services provided outside their borders… [U]nder bedrock constitutional principles, women who reside in states that have banned access to comprehensive reproductive care must remain free to seek that care in states where it is legal.”
In addition, the Department’s Reproductive Health Task Force announced last July that it would monitor and evaluate state and local actions that threaten to “[i]mpair individuals’ ability to inform and counsel each other about the reproductive care that is available in other states.”
With that in mind, we write with concerns about recent state-level efforts to infringe on access to abortion care by targeting Americans’ right to travel. Idaho passed a law making it illegal for any adult to help a young person travel to another state to receive abortion care with the intent to conceal an abortion from a parent or guardian, even if the pregnancy is a result of incest or parental abuse.
The Idaho law may presage efforts in other states to limit American’s right to travel to receive reproductive care. For example, in Iowa lawmakers have proposed legislation that would criminalize providers offering care to out-of-state patients. In Texas, lawmakers have proposed legislation that would penalize companies that provide assistance to employees who need to travel out of state for abortion care. Both Texas and Tennessee are also considering legislation that would prohibit any governmental entity from providing funding to assist people in obtaining abortion care, including costs associated with traveling out of state for abortion care.
Given the work of many of our states to protect access to abortion care no matter whether a patient comes from the state or travels from another, we are alarmed by efforts in other states to curb interstate travel, which may present an unprecedented attack on Americans’ rights.
We are writing to better understand DOJ’s assessment of efforts to infringe on Americans’ right to travel and the constitutional right to interstate travel. We encourage you to do all that you can to protect this right and request a briefing from the Reproductive Health Task Force by July 26, 2023.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
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