II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2593 

To protect, consistent with Roe v. Wade, a woman’s freedom to choose 

to bear a child or terminate a pregnancy, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 6, 2006 

Mrs. BOXER (for herself, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mrs. MURRAY, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. 

LAUTENBERG, Ms. STABENOW, and Ms. CANTWELL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the 

Judiciary 

A BILL 

To protect, consistent with Roe v. Wade, a woman’s freedom 

to choose to bear a child or terminate a pregnancy, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Freedom of Choice 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The United States was founded on core 

9 principles, such as liberty, personal privacy, and 


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1 equality, which ensure that individuals are free to 

2 make their most intimate decisions without govern3 mental interference and discrimination. 

4 (2) One of the most private and difficult deci5 sions an individual makes is whether to begin, pre6 vent, continue, or terminate a pregnancy. Those re7 productive health decisions are best made by women, 

8 in consultation with their loved ones and health care 

9 providers. 

10 (3) In 1965, in Griswold v. Connecticut (381 

11 U.S. 479), and in 1973, in Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 

12 113) and Doe v. Bolton (410 U.S. 179), the Su13 preme Court recognized that the right to privacy 

14 protected by the Constitution encompasses the right 

15 of every woman to weigh the personal, moral, and 

16 religious considerations involved in deciding whether 

17 to begin, prevent, continue, or terminate a preg18 nancy. 

19 (4) The Roe v. Wade decision carefully balances 

20 the rights of women to make important reproductive 

21 decisions with the State’s interest in potential life. 

22 Under Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the right to 

23 privacy protects a woman’s decision to choose to ter24 minate her pregnancy prior to fetal viability, with 

25 the State permitted to ban abortion after fetal viaVerDate Aug 31 2005 18:46 Apr 13, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2593.IS S2593

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1 bility except when necessary to protect a woman’s 

2 life or health. 

3 (5) These decisions have protected the health 

4 and lives of women in the United States. Prior to 

5 the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, an estimated 

6 1,200,000 women each year were forced to resort to 

7 illegal abortions, despite the risk of unsanitary con8 ditions, incompetent treatment, infection, hemor9 rhage, disfiguration, and death. Before Roe, it is es10 timated that thousands of women died annually in 

11 the United States as a result of illegal abortions. 

12 (6) In countries in which abortion remains ille13 gal, the risk of maternal mortality is high. According 

14 to the World Health Organization, of the approxi15 mately 600,000 pregnancy-related deaths occurring 

16 annually around the world, 80,000 are associated 

17 with unsafe abortions. 

18 (7) The Roe v. Wade decision also expanded the 

19 opportunities for women to participate equally in so20 ciety. In 1992, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (505 

21 U.S. 833), the Supreme Court observed that, ‘‘[t]he 

22 ability of women to participate equally in the eco23 nomic and social life of the Nation has been facili24 tated by their ability to control their reproductive 

25 lives.’’. 


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1 (8) Even though the Roe v. Wade decision has 

2 stood for more than 30 years, there are increasing 

3 threats to reproductive health and freedom emerging 

4 from all branches and levels of government. In 2006, 

5 South Dakota became the first State in more than 

6 15 years to enact a ban on abortion in nearly all cir7 cumstances. Supporters of this ban have admitted it 

8 is an attempt to directly challenge Roe in the courts. 

9 Other States are considering similar bans. 

10 (9) Legal and practical barriers to the full 

11 range of reproductive services endanger women’s 

12 health and lives. Incremental restrictions on the 

13 right to choose imposed by Congress and State legis14 latures have made access to abortion care extremely 

15 difficult, if not impossible, for many women across 

16 the country. Currently, 87 percent of the counties in 

17 the United States have no abortion provider. 

18 (10) While abortion should remain safe and 

19 legal, women should also have more meaningful ac20 cess to family planning services that prevent unin21 tended pregnancies, thereby reducing the need for 

22 abortion. 

23 (11) To guarantee the protections of Roe v. 

24 Wade, Federal legislation is necessary. 


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1 (12) Although Congress may not create con2 stitutional rights without amending the Constitution, 

3 Congress may, where authorized by its enumerated 

4 powers and not prohibited by the Constitution, enact 

5 legislation to create and secure statutory rights in 

6 areas of legitimate national concern. 

7 (13) Congress has the affirmative power under 

8 section 8 of article I of the Constitution and section 

9 5 of the 14th amendment to the Constitution to 

10 enact legislation to facilitate interstate commerce 

11 and to prevent State interference with interstate 

12 commerce, liberty, or equal protection of the laws. 

13 (14) Federal protection of a woman’s right to 

14 choose to prevent or terminate a pregnancy falls 

15 within this affirmative power of Congress, in part, 

16 because— 

17 (A) many women cross State lines to ob18 tain abortions and many more would be forced 

19 to do so absent a constitutional right or Federal 

20 protection; 

21 (B) reproductive health clinics are com22 mercial actors that regularly purchase medicine, 

23 medical equipment, and other necessary sup24 plies from out-of-State suppliers; and 


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1 (C) reproductive health clinics employ doc2 tors, nurses, and other personnel who travel 

3 across State lines in order to provide reproduc4 tive health services to patients. 

5 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

7 (1) GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘government’’ 

8 includes a branch, department, agency, instrumen9 tality, or official (or other individual acting under 

10 color of law) of the United States, a State, or a sub11 division of a State. 

12 (2) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

13 the States, the District of Columbia, the Common14 wealth of Puerto Rico, and each territory or posses15 sion of the United States. 

16 (3) VIABILITY.—The term ‘‘viability’’ means 

17 that stage of pregnancy when, in the best medical 

18 judgment of the attending physician based on the 

19 particular medical facts of the case before the physi20 cian, there is a reasonable likelihood of the sustained 

21 survival of the fetus outside of the woman. 

22 SEC. 4. INTERFERENCE WITH REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH 

23 PROHIBITED. 

24 (a) STATEMENT OF POLICY.—It is the policy of the 

25 United States that every woman has the fundamental 


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1 right to choose to bear a child, to terminate a pregnancy 

2 prior to fetal viability, or to terminate a pregnancy after 

3 fetal viability when necessary to protect the life or health 

4 of the woman. 

5 (b) PROHIBITION OF INTERFERENCE.—A govern6 ment may not— 

7 (1) deny or interfere with a woman’s right to 

8 choose— 

9 (A) to bear a child; 

10 (B) to terminate a pregnancy prior to via11 bility; or 

12 (C) to terminate a pregnancy after viability 

13 where termination is necessary to protect the 

14 life or health of the woman; or 

15 (2) discriminate against the exercise of the 

16 rights set forth in paragraph (1) in the regulation 

17 or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or infor18 mation. 

19 (c) CIVIL ACTION.—An individual aggrieved by a vio20 lation of this section may obtain appropriate relief (includ21 ing relief against a government) in a civil action. 

22 SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY. 

23 If any provision of this Act, or the application of such 

24 provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be un25 constitutional, the remainder of this Act, or the applicaVerDate Aug 31 2005 18:46 Apr 13, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2593.IS S2593

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1 tion of such provision to persons or circumstances other 

2 than those as to which the provision is held to be unconsti3 tutional, shall not be affected thereby. 

4 SEC. 6. RETROACTIVE EFFECT. 

5 This Act applies to every Federal, State, and local 

6 statute, ordinance, regulation, administrative order, deci7 sion, policy, practice, or other action enacted, adopted, or 

8 implemented before, on, or after the date of enactment 

9 of this Act. 

Æ 


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