S2152-118

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act of 2023.

2. Findings Congress finds as follows: 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Longer travel times lead to a host of other burdens for abortion patients, including the cost of transportation, food, lodging, childcare, and lost wages. 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. 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. 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. Abortion funds have a history of being under-resourced and rely mostly on volunteer time and energy to support communities. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.