II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1696 

To protect a woman’s right to determine whether and when to bear a child 

or end a pregnancy by limiting restrictions on the provision of abortion 

services. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 13, 2013 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Ms. BALDWIN, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. SCHATZ, Ms. 

HIRONO, Mr. HARKIN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. SCHUMER, 

Mrs. MURRAY, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. 

BROWN, Ms. WARREN, Mr. TESTER, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. HEINRICH, 

Mr. COONS, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MERKLEY, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. BOOKER, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. 

FRANKEN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. CARDIN, and Mrs. MCCASKILL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To protect a woman’s right to determine whether and when 

to bear a child or end a pregnancy by limiting restrictions on the provision of abortion services. 

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 ‘‘Women’s Health Pro5 tection Act of 2013’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Access to safe, legal abortion services is es4 sential to women’s health and central to women’s 

5 ability to participate equally in the economic and so6 cial life of the United States. 

7 (2) Access to safe, legal abortion services has 

8 been hindered in the United States in various ways, 

9 including blockades of health care facilities and asso10 ciated violence; restrictions on insurance coverage; 

11 restrictions on minors’ ability to obtain services; and 

12 requirements and restrictions that single out abor13 tion providers and those seeking their services, and 

14 which do not further women’s health or the safety 

15 of abortion, but harm women by reducing the avail16 ability of services. 

17 (3) In the early 1990s, protests and blockades 

18 at health care facilities where abortions were per19 formed, and associated violence, increased dramati20 cally and reached crisis level, requiring Congres21 sional action. Congress passed the Freedom of Ac22 cess to Clinic Entrances Act (Public Law 103–259) 

23 to address that situation and ensure that women 

24 could physically access abortion services. 

25 (4) Since 2010, there has been an equally dra26 matic increase in the number of laws and regulations 


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1 singling out abortion that threaten women’s health 

2 and their ability to access safe abortion services by 

3 interfering with health care professionals’ ability to 

4 provide such services. Congressional action is now 

5 necessary to put an end to these restrictions. In ad6 dition, there has been a dramatic increase in the 

7 passage of laws that blatantly violate the constitu8 tional protections afforded women, such as bans on 

9 abortions prior to viability. 

10 (5) Legal abortion is one of the safest medical 

11 procedures in the United States. That safety is 

12 furthered by regulations that are based on science 

13 and are generally applicable to the medical profes14 sion or to medically comparable procedures. 

15 (6) Many State and local governments are im16 posing restrictions on the provision of abortion that 

17 are neither science-based nor generally applicable to 

18 the medical profession or to medically comparable 

19 procedures. Though described by their proponents as 

20 health and safety regulations, many of these abor21 tion-specific restrictions do not advance the safety of 

22 abortion services and do nothing to protect women’s 

23 health. Also, these restrictions interfere with wom24 en’s personal and private medical decisions, make 

25 access to abortion more difficult and costly, and 


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1 even make it impossible for some women to obtain 

2 those services. 

3 (7) These restrictions harm women’s health by 

4 reducing access not only to abortion services but also 

5 to the other essential health care services offered by 

6 the providers targeted by the restrictions, including 

7 contraceptive services, which reduce unintended 

8 pregnancies and thus abortions, and screenings for 

9 cervical cancer and sexually transmitted infections. 

10 These harms fall especially heavily on low-income 

11 women, women of color, and women living in rural 

12 and other medically underserved areas. 

13 (8) The cumulative effect of these numerous re14 strictions has been widely varying access to abortion 

15 services such that a woman’s ability to exercise her 

16 constitutional rights is dependent on the State in 

17 which she lives. Federal legislation putting a stop to 

18 harmful restrictions throughout the United States is 

19 necessary to ensure that women in all States have 

20 access to safe abortion services, an essential con21 stitutional right repeatedly affirmed by the United 

22 States Supreme Court. 

23 (9) Congress has the authority to protect wom24 en’s ability to access abortion services pursuant to 

25 its powers under the Commerce Clause and its powVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:43 Nov 14, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1696.IS S1696

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1 ers under section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment to 

2 the Constitution to enforce the provisions of section 

3 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment. 

4 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to pro5 tect women’s health by ensuring that abortion services will 

6 continue to be available and that abortion providers are 

7 not singled out for medically unwarranted restrictions that 

8 harm women by preventing them from accessing safe abor9 tion services. It is not the purpose of this Act to address 

10 all threats to access to abortion (for example, this Act does 

11 not apply to clinic violence, restrictions on insurance cov12 erage of abortion, or requirements for parental consent or 

13 notification before a minor may obtain an abortion) which 

14 Congress should address through separate legislation as 

15 appropriate. 

16 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act: 

18 (1) ABORTION.—The term ‘‘abortion’’ means 

19 any medical treatment, including the prescription of 

20 medication, intended to cause the termination of a 

21 pregnancy except for the purpose of increasing the 

22 probability of a live birth, to remove an ectopic preg23 nancy, or to remove a dead fetus. 


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1 (2) ABORTION PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘abortion 

2 provider’’ means a health care professional who per3 forms abortions. 

4 (3) GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘government’’ 

5 includes a branch, department, agency, instrumen6 tality, or individual acting under color of law of the 

7 United States, a State, or a subdivision of a State. 

8 (4) HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL.—The term 

9 ‘‘health care professional’’ means a licensed medical 

10 professional (including physicians, certified nurse11 midwives, nurse practitioners, and physician assist12 ants) who is competent to perform abortions based 

13 on clinical training. 

14 (5) PREGNANCY.—The term ‘‘pregnancy’’ refers 

15 to the period of the human reproductive process be16 ginning with the implantation of a fertilized egg. 

17 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes each of 

18 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Com19 monwealth of Puerto Rico, and each territory or pos20 session of the United States. 

21 (7) VIABILITY.—The term ‘‘viability’’ means 

22 the point in a pregnancy at which, in the good-faith 

23 medical judgment of the treating health care profes24 sional, based on the particular facts of the case be25 fore her or him, there is a reasonable likelihood of 


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1 sustained fetal survival outside the uterus with or 

2 without artificial support. 

3 SEC. 4. PROHIBITED MEASURES AND ACTIONS. 

4 (a) GENERAL PROHIBITIONS.—The following limita5 tions or requirements are unlawful and shall not be im6 posed or applied by any government because they single 

7 out the provision of abortion services for restrictions that 

8 are more burdensome than those restrictions imposed on 

9 medically comparable procedures, they do not significantly 

10 advance women’s health or the safety of abortion services, 

11 and they make abortion services more difficult to access: 

12 (1) A requirement that a medical professional 

13 perform specific tests or follow specific medical pro14 cedures in connection with the provision of an abor15 tion, unless generally required for the provision of 

16 medically comparable procedures. 

17 (2) A limitation on an abortion provider’s abil18 ity to delegate tasks, other than a limitation gen19 erally applicable to providers of medically com20 parable procedures. 

21 (3) A limitation on an abortion provider’s abil22 ity to prescribe or dispense drugs based on her or 

23 his good-faith medical judgment, other than a limi24 tation generally applicable to the medical profession. 


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1 (4) A limitation on an abortion provider’s abil2 ity to provide abortion services via telemedicine, 

3 other than a limitation generally applicable to the 

4 provision of medical services via telemedicine. 

5 (5) A requirement or limitation concerning the 

6 physical plant, equipment, staffing, or hospital 

7 transfer arrangements of facilities where abortions 

8 are performed, or the credentials or hospital privi9 leges or status of personnel at such facilities, that is 

10 not imposed on facilities or the personnel of facilities 

11 where medically comparable procedures are per12 formed. 

13 (6) A requirement that, prior to obtaining an 

14 abortion, a woman make one or more medically un15 necessary visits to the provider of abortion services 

16 or to any individual or entity that does not provide 

17 abortion services. 

18 (7) A requirement or limitation that prohibits 

19 or restricts medical training for abortion procedures, 

20 other than a requirement or limitation generally ap21 plicable to medical training for medically comparable 

22 procedures. 

23 (b) OTHER PROHIBITED MEASURES OR ACTIONS.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—A measure or action that re25 stricts the provision of abortion services or the faciliVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:43 Nov 14, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1696.IS S1696

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1 ties that provide abortion services that is similar to 

2 any of the prohibited limitations or requirements de3 scribed in subsection (a) shall be unlawful if such 

4 measure or action singles out abortion services or 

5 make abortions services more difficult to access and 

6 does not significantly advance women’s health or the 

7 safety of abortion services. 

8 (2) PRIMA FACIE CASE.—To make a prima 

9 facie showing that a measure or action is unlawful 

10 under paragraph (1) a plaintiff shall demonstrate 

11 that the measure or action involved— 

12 (A) singles out the provision of abortion 

13 services or facilities in which abortion services 

14 are performed; or 

15 (B) impedes women’s access to abortion 

16 services based on one or more of the factors de17 scribed in paragraph (3). 

18 (3) FACTORS.—Factors for a court to consider 

19 in determining whether a measure or action impedes 

20 access to abortion services for purposes of paragraph 

21 (2)(B) include the following: 

22 (A) Whether the measure or action inter23 feres with an abortion provider’s ability to pro24 vide care and render services in accordance with 

25 her or his good-faith medical judgment. 


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1 (B) Whether the measure or action is rea2 sonably likely to delay some women in accessing 

3 abortion services. 

4 (C) Whether the measure or action is rea5 sonably likely to directly or indirectly increase 

6 the cost of providing abortion services or the 

7 cost for obtaining abortion services (including 

8 costs associated with travel, childcare, or time 

9 off work). 

10 (D) Whether the measure or action re11 quires, or is reasonably likely to have the effect 

12 of necessitating, a trip to the offices of the 

13 abortion provider that would not otherwise be 

14 required. 

15 (E) Whether the measure or action is rea16 sonably likely to result in a decrease in the 

17 availability of abortion services in the State. 

18 (F) Whether the measure or action im19 poses criminal or civil penalties that are not im20 posed on other health care professionals for 

21 comparable conduct or failure to act or that are 

22 harsher than penalties imposed on other health 

23 care professionals for comparable conduct or 

24 failure to act. 


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1 (G) The cumulative impact of the measure 

2 or action combined with other new or existing 

3 requirements or restrictions. 

4 (4) DEFENSE.—A measure or action shall be 

5 unlawful under this subsection upon making a prima 

6 facie case (as provided for under paragraph (2)), un7 less the defendant establishes, by clear and con8 vincing evidence, that— 

9 (A) the measure or action significantly ad10 vances the safety of abortion services or the 

11 health of women; and 

12 (B) the safety of abortion services or the 

13 health of women cannot be advanced by a less 

14 restrictive alternative measure or action. 

15 (c) OTHER PROHIBITIONS.—The following restric16 tions on the performance of abortion are unlawful and 

17 shall not be imposed or applied by any government: 

18 (1) A prohibition or ban on abortion prior to 

19 fetal viability. 

20 (2) A prohibition on abortion after fetal viabil21 ity when, in the good-faith medical judgment of the 

22 treating physician, continuation of the pregnancy 

23 would pose a risk to the pregnant woman’s life or 

24 health. 


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1 (3) A restriction that limits a pregnant wom2 an’s ability to obtain an immediate abortion when a 

3 health care professional believes, based on her or his 

4 good-faith medical judgment, that delay would pose 

5 a risk to the woman’s health. 

6 (4) A measure or action that prohibits or re7 stricts a woman from obtaining an abortion prior to 

8 fetal viability based on her reasons or perceived rea9 sons or that requires a woman to state her reasons 

10 before obtaining an abortion prior to fetal viability. 

11 (d) LIMITATION.—The provisions of this Act shall 

12 not apply to laws regulating physical access to clinic en13 trances, requirements for parental consent or notification 

14 before a minor may obtain an abortion, insurance coverage 

15 of abortion, or the procedure described in section 

16 1531(b)(1) of title 18, United States Code. 

17 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act shall apply to gov18 ernment restrictions on the provision of abortion services, 

19 whether statutory or otherwise, whether they are enacted 

20 or imposed prior to or after the date of enactment of this 

21 Act. 

22 SEC. 5. LIBERAL CONSTRUCTION. 

23 (a) LIBERAL CONSTRUCTION.—In interpreting the 

24 provisions of this Act, a court shall liberally construe such 

25 provisions to effectuate the purposes of the Act. 


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1 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 

2 shall be construed to authorize any government to inter3 fere with a woman’s ability to terminate her pregnancy, 

4 to diminish or in any way negatively affect a woman’s con5 stitutional right to terminate her pregnancy, or to displace 

6 any other remedy for violations of the constitutional right 

7 to terminate a pregnancy. 

8 SEC. 6. ENFORCEMENT. 

9 (a) ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The Attorney General 

10 may commence a civil action for prospective injunctive re11 lief on behalf of the United States against any government 

12 official that is charged with implementing or enforcing any 

13 restriction that is challenged as unlawful under this Act. 

14 (b) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any individual or entity ag16 grieved by an alleged violation of this Act may com17 mence a civil action for prospective injunctive relief 

18 against the government official that is charged with 

19 implementing or enforcing the restriction that is 

20 challenged as unlawful under this Act. 

21 (2) FACILITY OR PROFESSIONAL.—A health 

22 care facility or medical professional may commence 

23 an action for prospective injunctive relief on behalf 

24 of the facility’s or professional’s patients who are or 


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1 may be adversely affected by an alleged violation of 

2 this Act. 

3 (c) EQUITABLE RELIEF.—In any action under this 

4 section, the court may award appropriate equitable relief, 

5 including temporary, preliminary, or permanent injunctive 

6 relief. 

7 (d) COSTS.—In any action under this section, the 

8 court shall award the costs of litigation, including reason9 able attorney and expert witness fees, to any prevailing 

10 or substantially prevailing plaintiff. 

11 (e) JURISDICTION.—The district courts of the United 

12 States shall have jurisdiction over proceedings commenced 

13 pursuant to this section and shall exercise the same with14 out regard to whether the party aggrieved shall have ex15 hausted any administrative or other remedies that may be 

16 provided for by law. 

17 SEC. 7. PREEMPTION. 

18 No State or subdivision thereof shall enact or enforce 

19 any law, rule, regulation, standard, or other provision hav20 ing the force and effect of law that conflicts with any pro21 vision of this Act. 

22 SEC. 8. 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 Mar 15 2010 02:43 Nov 14, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1696.IS S1696

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1 tion of such provision to all other persons or cir2 cumstances, shall not be affected thereby. 

Æ 


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