U.S. House Passes Women’s Health Protection Act and the Ensuring Access To Abortion Act Of 2022 in Response to SCOTUS Overturning Roe

Today, the United States House of Representatives passed the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) and the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act by votes of 219-210 and 223-205, respectively. URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity applauds the Representatives who voted to support these bills and protect abortion access. This is the second time in the past year that Members of the House have legislated to proactively support abortion rights, passing WHPA previously last September.  

WHPA prohibits governmental restrictions on the provision of, and access to, abortion services, while the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act protects our right to travel, prohibiting anyone acting under state law from interfering with a person’s ability to access out-of-state abortion services. These bills passed today despite opposition from extremist legislators who are out-of-touch with the beliefs of most Americans of all ages, and especially unaligned the views of young people.  

“We appreciate the Congressmembers who voted to pass WHPA and the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act. Unfortunately, the filibuster continues to stamp out the will of the people, meaning that these bills are unlikely to pass in the Senate and protect access to abortion,” said Kimberly Inez McGuire (she/her/ella), Executive Director at URGE. “URGE condemns the use of arcane, racist tools and rules that prevent Congress from protecting our rights and responding to the national crisis of abortion access. We will continue to build political power with our young people, who care deeply about abortion access.”