What is the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA)?

WHPA prohibits governments from restricting medical providers from prescribing abortion-inducing medications (mifepristone and misoprostol), providing abortion care via telemedicine, or delaying abortions to patients whose health is at risk. WHPA also bars governments from requiring medical providers to put patients through unnecessary procedures or to give patients inaccurate medical information. Additionally, WHPA bans governments from singling out abortion providers for credentialing that isn’t also required of providers “whose services are medically comparable to abortions.” Finally, WHPA forbids governments from banning abortion before fetal viability (22-24 weeks’ gestation).

Why do we need it?

The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that granted abortion rights (if not practical access) to all Americans regardless of their state of residence. The majority of justices decided in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that the Mississippi government’s desire to impose a 15-week abortion ban on people in that state usurped Mississippians’ privacy, reproductive freedom, and bodily autonomy. Their decision has been devastating and has resulted in total abortion bans in 14 states, in addition to bans at various points in pregnancy before fetal viability in 11 more states (as of September 2024).

Access to safe abortion is critical to women’s health, safety, and lives. Patients of means may be able to travel out of state to receive an abortion in a place where it’s still legal, but many people simply can’t afford the cost or take the time off work and/or care-giving duties to travel for such care. Bodily autonomy is a fundamental human right, and being forced to carry a pregnancy to term (or until a fetus or a pregnant person perishes, in the most extreme cases) is a blatant violation of this right.

Congress must pass the Women’s Health Protection Act to restore reproductive freedom to Americans in any and all states across the country!