I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1964 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 19, 2007 

Mr. NADLER (for himself, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. ALLEN, 

Mr. ARCURI, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. 

BLUMENAUER, Mr. BOUCHER, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. COHEN, Mr. CONYERS, 

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. 

ELLISON, Mr. EMANUEL, Mr. FARR, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. FILNER, Mr. 

FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. HARMAN, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. 

HOLT, Mr. HONDA, Mr. INSLEE, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, 

Ms. LEE, Mr. LOEBSACK, Mrs. LOWEY, Ms. MATSUI, Ms. MCCOLLUM of 

Minnesota, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. MILLER

of North Carolina, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. OLVER, Mr. PORTER, Ms. 

LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of California, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SHAYS, Ms. 

SLAUGHTER, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. STARK, Ms. SUTTON, Mr. THOMPSON of 

California, Mr. TOWNS, Ms. WATSON, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. WEINER, Mr. 

WEXLER, and Ms. WOOLSEY) introduced the following bill; which was 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, 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

2 

•HR 1964 IH

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

3 Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) The United States was founded on core 

7 principles, such as liberty, personal privacy, and 

8 equality, which ensure that individuals are free to 

9 make their most intimate decisions without govern10 mental interference and discrimination. 

11 (2) One of the most private and difficult deci12 sions an individual makes is whether to begin, pre13 vent, continue, or terminate a pregnancy. Those re14 productive health decisions are best made by women, 

15 in consultation with their loved ones and health care 

16 providers. 

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

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

19 113) and Doe v. Bolton (410 U.S. 179), the Su20 preme Court recognized that the right to privacy 

21 protected by the Constitution encompasses the right 

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

23 religious considerations involved in deciding whether 

24 to begin, prevent, continue, or terminate a preg25 nancy. 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

3 

•HR 1964 IH

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

2 the rights of women to make important reproductive 

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

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

5 privacy protects a woman’s decision to choose to ter6 minate her pregnancy prior to fetal viability, with 

7 the State permitted to ban abortion after fetal via8 bility except when necessary to protect a woman’s 

9 life or health. 

10 (5) These decisions have protected the health 

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

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

13 1,200,000 women each year were forced to resort to 

14 illegal abortions, despite the risk of unsanitary con15 ditions, incompetent treatment, infection, hemor16 rhage, disfiguration, and death. Before Roe, it is es17 timated that thousands of women died annually in 

18 the United States as a result of illegal abortions. 

19 (6) In countries in which abortion remains ille20 gal, the risk of maternal mortality is high. According 

21 to the World Health Organization, of the approxi22 mately 600,000 pregnancy-related deaths occurring 

23 annually around the world, 80,000 are associated 

24 with unsafe abortions. 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

4 

•HR 1964 IH

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

2 opportunities for women to participate equally in so3 ciety. In 1992, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (505 

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

5 ability of women to participate equally in the eco6 nomic and social life of the Nation has been facili7 tated by their ability to control their reproductive 

8 lives.’’. 

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

10 stood for more than 30 years, there are increasing 

11 threats to reproductive health and freedom emerging 

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

13 South Dakota became the first State in more than 

14 15 years to enact a ban on abortion in nearly all cir15 cumstances. Supporters of this ban have admitted it 

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

17 Other States are considering similar bans. 

18 (9) Further threatening Roe, the Supreme 

19 Court recently upheld the first-ever Federal ban on 

20 abortion, which has no exception to protect a wom21 an’s health. The majority decision in Gonzales v. 

22 Carhart and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood Fed23 eration of America permits the government to inter24 fere with a woman’s right to choose to terminate a 

25 pregnancy and effectively overturns a core tenet of 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

5 

•HR 1964 IH

1 Roe v. Wade by abandoning more than 30 years of 

2 protection for women’s health. Dissenting in that 

3 case, Justice Ginsburg called the majority’s opinion 

4 ‘‘alarming,’’ and stated that, ‘‘[f]or the first time 

5 since Roe, the Court blesses a prohibition with no 

6 exception safeguarding a woman’s health.’’ Further, 

7 she said, the Federal ban ‘‘and the Court’s defense 

8 of it cannot be understood as anything other than 

9 an effort to chip away at a right declared again and 

10 again by this Court.’’. 

11 (10) Legal and practical barriers to the full 

12 range of reproductive services endanger women’s 

13 health and lives. Incremental restrictions on the 

14 right to choose imposed by Congress and State legis15 latures have made access to abortion care extremely 

16 difficult, if not impossible, for many women across 

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

18 the United States have no abortion provider. 

19 (11) While abortion should remain safe and 

20 legal, women should also have more meaningful ac21 cess to family planning services that prevent unin22 tended pregnancies, thereby reducing the need for 

23 abortion. 

24 (12) To guarantee the protections of Roe v. 

25 Wade, Federal legislation is necessary. 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

6 

•HR 1964 IH

1 (13) 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 (14) 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 (15) 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 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

7 

•HR 1964 IH

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 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

8 

•HR 1964 IH

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 applicamstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

9 

•HR 1964 IH

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 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS