II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3983 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a grant program 

to increase capacity for providing abortion services and other sexual 

and reproductive health care, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 20, 2024 

Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. 

MERKLEY, Ms. BUTLER, Mr. WELCH, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. PADILLA, Ms. 

WARREN, and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 

and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a 

grant program to increase capacity for providing abortion 

services and other sexual and reproductive health care, 

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 ‘‘Abortion Care Capac5 ity Enhancement and Support Services Act of 2024’’ or 

6 the ‘‘ACCESS Act of 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) On June 24, 2022, in Dobbs v. Jackson 

4 Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court 

5 overturned Roe v. Wade, which had guaranteed the 

6 constitutional right to abortion. Following the deci7 sion, States were able to increase restrictions or ban 

8 access to abortion, which has exacerbated the abor9 tion access crisis. Under this legal framework, abor10 tion access varies widely by State. 

11 (2) Compared to April 2022, the number of 

12 abortions per month by June 2023, had dropped to 

13 zero in at least 12 States with abortion bans in 

14 place, while other States saw increases of over 2,000 

15 abortions. 

16 (3) States that do not have an abortion ban or 

17 restrictions have experienced increased numbers of 

18 out-of-State patients seeking abortion services. Pa19 tients traveling for abortion services doubled in re20 cent years with 1 in 5 patients crossing State lines 

21 to obtain an abortion in 2023, compared to 1 in 10 

22 in 2020. 

23 (4) Abortion providers in States where abortion 

24 is legal have experienced an increase in the number 

25 of patients from out of State. This influx in patients 

26 has increased the demand for abortion services and 


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1 strained the reproductive health care systems in 

2 many States. 

3 (5) The influx of out-of-State patients has also 

4 increased the backlogs in services and wait times for 

5 appointments in multiple States following increases 

6 in abortion bans and restrictions. To date, many fa7 cilities across the country still have reported wait 

8 times of a week or longer for abortion services. 

9 (6) The challenges to access abortion dispropor10 tionately impact individuals of color, low-income in11 dividuals, LGBTQ+ individuals, youth, and others 

12 who face existing barriers to access health care in 

13 their communities. 

14 (7) Over 15,000,000 reproductive-age women of 

15 color live in States that have banned or are likely to 

16 ban abortion following the Dobbs decision. Addition17 ally, women of color, low-income women, young 

18 women, and women living in rural communities have 

19 been disproportionately impacted by travel for abor20 tion services. 

21 (8) To address the challenges in accessing abor22 tion services, proper investments need to be made to 

23 improve capacity to accommodate for both patients 

24 in State and those coming from out of State to re25 ceive comprehensive and high-quality abortion servVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:52 Apr 03, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3983.IS S3983

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1 ices and other sexual and reproductive health serv2 ices. 

3 SEC. 3. GRANTS TO INCREASE CAPACITY TO PROVIDE 

4 ABORTION SERVICES AND OTHER SEXUAL 

5 AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE. 

6 Subpart V of part D of title III of the Public Health 

7 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 256 et seq.) is amended by adding 

8 at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 340A–1. GRANTS TO INCREASE CAPACITY TO PROVIDE 

10 ABORTION SERVICES AND OTHER SEXUAL 

11 AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE. 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a 

13 grant program consisting of awarding grants to eligible 

14 entities to increase their capacity to provide abortion serv15 ices and other sexual and reproductive health care to indi16 viduals seeking to access abortion within or outside of 

17 their States of residence. 

18 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive 

19 a grant under this section, an entity shall— 

20 ‘‘(1) be a hospital, clinic, or other health care 

21 facility, university, nonprofit organization, commu22 nity-based organization, local governmental entity, 

23 or Tribal government that, through programs, serv24 ices, or activities that are unbiased and medically 


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1 and factually accurate, provides or refers for abor2 tion services; and 

3 ‘‘(2) be in a State, the District of Columbia, or 

4 a commonwealth, territory, or possession of the 

5 United States where abortion services are permis6 sible outside of exceptions for the life and health of 

7 the pregnant person. 

8 ‘‘(c) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec9 tion, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities 

10 in States that, as determined by the Secretary, have expe11 rienced the highest increases of out-of-State patients seek12 ing abortion services and other sexual and reproductive 

13 health care. 

14 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—A grant under this 

15 section may be used for any of the following supplies, 

16 equipment, or services related to providing an abortion or 

17 other sexual and reproductive health care: 

18 ‘‘(1) Expanding the grantee’s facilities, such as 

19 by creating more examination rooms, operation 

20 rooms, recovery areas, and other additional locations 

21 for care. 

22 ‘‘(2) Purchasing medical supplies or equipment 

23 to provide reproductive health care services. 


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1 ‘‘(3) Administering telehealth services, which 

2 may include audio, video, and text messaging serv3 ices. 

4 ‘‘(4) Contracting or hiring clinical and nonclin5 ical support staff, which may include intake coordi6 nators, health educators, doulas, midwives, coun7 selors, ultrasound technicians, and other relevant 

8 health care personnel. 

9 ‘‘(5) Training programs to increase clinical and 

10 nonclinical support staff, which may include intake 

11 coordinators, health educators, doulas, midwives, 

12 counselors, ultrasound technicians, and other rel13 evant health care personnel. 

14 ‘‘(6) Creating and disseminating medically ac15 curate, culturally and linguistically appropriate, ac16 cessible educational materials and resources for pa17 tients. 

18 ‘‘(7) Interpretation and translation services. 

19 ‘‘(8) Referrals and counseling. 

20 ‘‘(9) Recovery care. 

21 ‘‘(e) APPLICATION.—To seek a grant under this sec22 tion, an eligible entity shall submit an application to the 

23 Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing 

24 such information as the Secretary may require, including 


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1 a plan for increasing capacity as described in subsection 

2 (a). 

3 ‘‘(f) PROHIBITION AGAINST EXCLUSION OF QUALI4 FIED ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—No Federal agency, grantee, 

5 subrecipient, or other entity shall, in the course of admin6 istering or carrying out any program or activity under this 

7 section, act in a manner which has the effect of excluding, 

8 limiting, or restricting the participation of any entity that 

9 would otherwise be eligible to apply for funds, on the basis 

10 of any factor unrelated to the entity’s qualifications to ef11 fectively carry out the program or activity. 

12 ‘‘(g) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘abor13 tion services’ means a medical or surgical abortion and 

14 any medical or non-medical supplies, equipment, or serv15 ices related to and provided in conjunction with an abor16 tion. 

17 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 

18 carry out this section, there is authorized to be appro19 priated $200,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 

20 through 2028.’’. 

Æ 


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