Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act of 2023
This bill authorizes a grant program to provide assistance with travel-related expenses for those seeking an abortion.
Specifically, the Department of Treasury may award grants to nonprofit or community-based organizations to provide assistance to those seeking abortions with round-trip travel, lodging, meals, and other travel-related expenses. Priority must be given to organizations that serve individuals who are in jurisdictions that have banned or severely restricted abortion access or who travel to another jurisdiction for an abortion, or organizations that have or plan to have programs in place that help individuals access abortion services.
In order to qualify for a grant, organizations must assist individuals seeking abortions through unbiased and medically and factually accurate programs, services, or activities. Organizations may not discourage individuals from seeking abortions. Additionally, federal entities that implement the grant program may not participate in any state, tribal, or local antiabortion proceedings (e.g., prosecutions) in connection with grant services.
[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4268 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4268
To authorize grants to eligible entities to pay for travel-related
expenses and logistical support for individuals with respect to
accessing abortion services, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 21, 2023
Ms. Strickland (for herself, Mrs. Fletcher, Ms. Bush, Mr. Smith of
Washington, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Cleaver, Ms. Titus, Mr. Connolly, Ms. Chu,
Ms. Crockett, Mr. Panetta, Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Ms. Sanchez, Mr. Casten,
Mrs. McClellan, Ms. DelBene, and Mrs. Ramirez) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize grants to eligible entities to pay for travel-related
expenses and logistical support for individuals with respect to
accessing abortion services, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act
of 2023''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds as follows:
(1) On June 24, 2022, in its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson
Women's Health Organization (142 S. Ct. 2228 (2022)) (referred
to in this section as the ``Dobbs decision''), the Supreme
Court overruled Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 113 (1973)), eliminating
the constitutional right to abortion and reversing decades of
precedent recognizing the constitutional right to terminate a
pregnancy.
(2) While abortion has never been available to all even
under Roe v. Wade, the Dobbs decision has decimated access for
millions of people in the United States. More than half of
States have already banned abortion or are likely to do so. In
fact, just 100 days after the Dobbs decision was announced, 66
clinics across 15 States had already been forced to stop
offering abortion services.
(3) As expected, the implications of the Dobbs decision
will fall hardest on people who already face barriers to health
care access due to systemic barriers and discrimination,
particularly Black people, Indigenous people, and other people
of color, people with disabilities, people in rural areas,
young people, people with documentation barriers, LGBTQ+
people, people who are parenting, people with complex medical
needs who require hospital-based care, and people having
difficulty making ends meet.
(4) Abortion bans prevent many people from accessing care
they want and need. An estimated 10,670 fewer people accessed
abortions at clinics in the first 2 months immediately
following the Dobbs decision.
(5) People have always had abortions and always will, even
in the face of legal, financial, and logistical barriers, or
criminalization. While some will self-manage their abortions,
and have the option of using pills that are medically safe and
effective, many others are traveling hundreds of miles out of
State, or are forced to carry pregnancies to term.
(6) Just months after the Dobbs decision, one-third of
women of reproductive age in the United States faced excessive
travel times for abortion. For residents of States that had
banned abortion, travel times increased by more than 4 hours on
average. Black women faced the greatest impact, with 40 percent
needing to drive at least 1 hour for abortion care after the
decision, versus 15 percent before the decision.
(7) Longer travel times lead to a host of other burdens for
abortion patients, including the cost of transportation, food,
lodging, childcare, and lost wages.
(8) Abortion funds and practical support funds (referred to
in this section as ``funds'') are community-based organizations
that support people in overcoming financial and logistical
barriers to abortion care.
(9) Funds work together to remove financial and logistical
barriers to abortion access and have been doing this work for
decades. Some of these barriers are transportation, food,
lodging, childcare, translation, doula services, among other
barriers.
(10) Many funds are led by people who have had abortions
themselves, including a growing base of Black and Brown leaders
who have themselves faced abortion obstacles and understand the
complex circumstances individuals may face.
(11) Abortion funds have a history of being under-resourced
and rely mostly on volunteer time and energy to support
communities.
(12) Abortion and practical support funds hold some of the
closest ties to people who are having abortions and have the
first-hand experience, up-to-date and on-the-ground knowledge,
and the regional and national connections needed to support
abortion seekers financially, emotionally, or logistically.
(13) More and more States are seeking to ban abortion or
enact extreme restrictions, significantly limiting the
circumstances in which abortions are available. Furthermore,
people have been prevented from seeking care because of the
confusion created by abortion restrictions, which has
contributed to a chilling effect for people seeking legal care
out of State. People seeking abortions often do not have a full
understanding of the abortion laws in their State and people
calling abortion funds for support often ask if they are doing
something illegal by traveling to get care. Abortion funds
serve to mitigate this confusion and directly connect people to
accurate information.
(14) Clinics in States where abortion is legal and more
accessible continue to receive an influx of people seeking
abortions. Provider shortages, together with this rapid
increase in patients, is causing longer waits for appointments,
particularly for clinics near States with bans, many of which
have had waiting times of more than 3 weeks.
(15) When people are not able to access an abortion when
they need it, they are often forced to seek an abortion much
further into their pregnancy. This increases costs
exponentially. Barriers to abortion care after the Dobbs
decision have led to an increasing complexity in the cases that
abortion funds are managing. People who are forced to cross
State lines for abortion care may need support for coordinating
and paying for higher logistical barriers (such as
transportation, lodging, meals, childcare, medication) to
access the abortion care they want, need, and deserve. For
many, the increased financial burden will push abortion care
completely out of reach without financial and logistical
assistance for appointment costs and travel.
(16) Funds often collaborate to fully meet the needs of
people who are facing barriers to their abortion care,
including by filling any remaining funding gaps or referring a
caller traveling across regions to another fund. A national
network of almost 100 abortion and practical support funds has
demonstrated these funds are uniquely positioned to lead at
this moment and need support.
SEC. 3. GRANTS TO PAY FOR TRAVEL EXPENSES AND LOGISTICAL SUPPORT FOR
INDIVIDUALS ACCESSING ABORTION SERVICES.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in this
section as the ``Secretary'') may award grants to eligible entities to
pay for travel-related expenses and logistical support for individuals
with respect to accessing abortion services.
(b) Timing.--Beginning not later than 30 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall solicit applications for
grants under this section.
(c) Use of Funds.--
(1) Permissible uses.--An eligible entity receiving a grant
under this section shall use the grant for travel-related
expenses and logistical support for individuals with respect to
accessing abortion services, which may include any of the
following expenses and support:
(A) Round trip travel to the location where the
abortion services are provided.
(B) Lodging.
(C) Meals.
(D) Childcare.
(E) Translation services.
(F) Doula care.
(G) Patient education and information services.
(H) Lost wages.
(2) Organizational costs.--An eligible entity receiving a
grant under this section may use up to, but not more than, 15
percent of the grant funds to cover organizational costs such
as--
(A) community outreach efforts;
(B) physical infrastructure construction and
maintenance;
(C) website development and maintenance; and
(D) increasing staff capacity and training.
(3) Impermissible uses.--An eligible entity receiving a
grant under this section shall not use the grant for costs of
an abortion procedure.
(d) Applications.--To seek a grant under this section, an eligible
entity shall submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in
such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary
determines appropriate.
(e) Priority.--In selecting the recipients of grants under this
section, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities that--
(1) serve individuals who live in a jurisdiction that has
banned or severely restricted access to abortion;
(2) serve individuals who travel to a jurisdiction other
than the one where they live to be provided abortion services;
or
(3) have a program in operation, or submit as part of the
application required under subsection (d) a plan to establish
and operate a program, to help individuals access abortion
services.
(f) Annual Reports to Congress.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary
shall submit to Congress a report on the program under this
section.
(2) Confidentiality.--The reports under paragraph (1) shall
not include any individually identifiable information.
(g) Preemption.--
(1) In general.--The provisions of this section shall
supersede any provision of State, Tribal, territorial, or local
law that would have the effect of prohibiting any use of funds
provided for under this section.
(2) Prohibition on federal cooperation in antiabortion
proceedings.--No Federal agency or official engaged in carrying
out the program under this section may cooperate with any
State, Tribal, territorial, or local antiabortion proceeding,
including any antiabortion investigation, prosecution, or civil
lawsuit, relating to the activities carried out under such
program or any individual or entity receiving or providing
services under such program.
(h) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) The term ``eligible entity''--
(A) means a nonprofit organization, or a community-
based organization, that assists individuals seeking an
abortion through programs, services, or activities that
are unbiased and medically and factually accurate; and
(B) excludes any entity that discourages
individuals from seeking an abortion.
(2) The term ``nonprofit organization'' means an
organization that--
(A) is described in subsection (c)(3) of section
501 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; and
(B) is, under subsection (a) of such section,
exempt from taxation.
(i) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section,
there is authorized to be appropriated $350,000,000 for each of fiscal
years 2024 through 2028.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
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