I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1322 

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

to bear a child or end a pregnancy by limiting restrictions on the 

provision of abortion services. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 2, 2017 

Ms. JUDY CHU of California (for herself, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. AGUILAR, Mrs. 

BEATTY, Mr. BERA, Mr. BEYER, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. 

BRADY of Pennsylvania, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mrs. BUSTOS, Mr. 

CARBAJAL, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, 

Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. COHEN, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, 

Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. EVANS, Mr. FOSTER, Ms. 

FRANKEL of Florida, Ms. FUDGE, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. 

GRIJALVA, Mr. GUTIE ́RREZ, Ms. HANABUSA, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. HECK, 

Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Mr. HIMES, Ms. NORTON, Mr. HUFFMAN, 

Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. KEATING, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, 

Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. KIHUEN, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. 

LARSEN of Washington, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Ms. LEE, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. TED

LIEU of California, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM

of New Mexico, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. 

MOULTON, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. NORCROSS, Mr. 

O’ROURKE, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. PETERS, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. POCAN, Mr. 

PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. QUIGLEY, Miss RICE of New York, Mr. 

RICHMOND, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. RUSH, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Ms. SA ́NCHEZ, 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. 

SERRANO, Ms. SINEMA, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. 

SOTO, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. TITUS, Mr. TONKO, Mrs. TORRES, 

Ms. TSONGAS, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. VEASEY, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. WALZ, 

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. WELCH, Mr. 

YARMUTH, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. CONNOLLY, and Mrs. DAVIS of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce 


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A BILL 

To protect a woman’s right and ability 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 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

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

8 (1) Access to safe, legal abortion services is es9 sential to women’s health and central to women’s 

10 ability to participate equally in the economic and so11 cial life of the United States. 

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

13 been hindered in the United States in various ways, 

14 including blockades of health care facilities and asso15 ciated violence; restrictions on insurance coverage; 

16 restrictions on minors’ ability to obtain services; and 

17 unnecessary health regulations that single out abor18 tion providers and those seeking their services, and 

19 which do not confer any health benefit or further the 

20 safety of abortion, but harm women by reducing the 

21 availability of services. 


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

2 at health care facilities where abortions were per3 formed, and associated violence, increased dramati4 cally and reached crisis level, requiring Congres5 sional action. Congress passed the Freedom of Ac6 cess to Clinic Entrances Act (Public Law 103–259) 

7 to address that situation and ensure that women 

8 could physically access abortion services. 

9 (4) Since 2010, there has been an equally dra10 matic increase in the number of laws and regulations 

11 singling out abortion that threaten women’s health 

12 and burden their access to safe abortion services by 

13 interfering with health care professionals’ ability to 

14 provide such services. The Supreme Court’s decision 

15 in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (579 U.S. 

16 lll (2016)), reaffirmed the constitutional right 

17 to abortion and struck down two unnecessary health 

18 regulations that created undue burdens upon access 

19 to abortion. Congressional action is necessary to put 

20 an end to these types of harmful restrictions. In ad21 dition, there has been a dramatic increase in the 

22 passage of laws that blatantly violate the constitu23 tional protections afforded women, such as bans on 

24 abortion prior to viability. 


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

2 procedures in the United States, safer than numer3 ous procedures that take place outside of hospitals, 

4 as noted by the Supreme Court in Whole Woman’s 

5 Health. That safety is furthered by regulations that 

6 are based on medical science and are generally appli7 cable to the medical profession or to medically com8 parable procedures. 

9 (6) Many State and local governments are im10 posing restrictions on the provision of abortion that 

11 are neither evidence-based nor generally applicable 

12 to the medical profession or to medically comparable 

13 procedures. Though described by their proponents as 

14 health and safety regulations, many of these abor15 tion-specific restrictions do not confer any health 

16 benefit. Also, these restrictions interfere with wom17 en’s personal and private medical decisions, make 

18 access to abortion more difficult and costly, and 

19 even make it impossible for some women to obtain 

20 those services. 

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

22 reducing access not only to abortion services but also 

23 to the other essential health care services offered by 

24 the providers targeted by the restrictions, including 

25 contraceptive services, which reduce unintended 


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1 pregnancies and thus abortions, and screenings for 

2 cervical cancer and sexually transmitted infections. 

3 These harms fall especially heavily on low-income 

4 women, women of color, immigrants, and women liv5 ing in rural and other medically underserved areas. 

6 (8) The cumulative effect of these numerous re7 strictions has been to make a woman’s ability to ex8 ercise her constitutional rights dependent on the 

9 State in which she lives. Federal legislation putting 

10 a stop to harmful restrictions throughout the United 

11 States is necessary to ensure that women in all 

12 States have meaningful access to safe abortion serv13 ices, a constitutional right repeatedly affirmed by 

14 the United States Supreme Court, most recently in 

15 2016. 

16 (9) Congress has the authority to protect wom17 en’s ability to access abortion services pursuant to 

18 its powers under the Commerce Clause and its pow19 ers under section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment to 

20 the Constitution to enforce the provisions of section 

21 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment. 

22 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to pro23 tect women’s health by ensuring that abortion services will 

24 continue to be available and that abortion providers are 

25 not singled out for medically unnecessary restrictions that 


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1 burden women by preventing them from accessing safe 

2 abortion services. It is not the purpose of this Act to ad3 dress all obstacles in the path of women who seek access 

4 to abortion (for example, this Act does not apply to clinic 

5 violence, restrictions on insurance or medical assistance 

6 coverage of abortion, or requirements for parental consent 

7 or notification before a minor may obtain an abortion) 

8 which Congress should address through separate legisla9 tion as appropriate. 

10 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

11 In this Act: 

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

13 any medical treatment, including the prescription of 

14 medication, intended to cause the termination of a 

15 pregnancy except for the purpose of increasing the 

16 probability of a live birth, to remove an ectopic preg17 nancy, or to remove a dead fetus. 

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

19 provider’’ means a health care professional who per20 forms abortions. 

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

22 includes a branch, department, agency, instrumen23 tality, or individual acting under color of law of the 

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


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1 (4) HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL.—The term 

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

3 professional (including physicians, certified nurse4 midwives, nurse practitioners, and physician assist5 ants) who is competent to perform abortions based 

6 on clinical training. 

7 (5) MEDICALLY COMPARABLE PROCEDURES.— 

8 The term ‘‘medically comparable procedures’’ means 

9 medical procedures that are similar in terms of risk, 

10 complexity, duration, or the degree of sterile pre11 caution that is indicated. 

12 (6) PREGNANCY.—The term ‘‘pregnancy’’ refers 

13 to the period of the human reproductive process be14 ginning with the implantation of a fertilized egg. 

15 (7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes each of 

16 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Com17 monwealth of Puerto Rico, and each territory or pos18 session of the United States. 

19 (8) VIABILITY.—The term ‘‘viability’’ means 

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

21 medical judgment of the treating health care profes22 sional, based on the particular facts of the case be23 fore her or him, there is a reasonable likelihood of 

24 sustained fetal survival outside the uterus with or 

25 without artificial support. 


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1 SEC. 4. PROHIBITED MEASURES AND ACTIONS. 

2 (a) GENERAL PROHIBITIONS.—The following limita3 tions or requirements are unlawful and shall not be im4 posed or applied by any government because they single 

5 out the provision of abortion services for restrictions that 

6 are more burdensome than those restrictions imposed on 

7 medically comparable procedures, they do not significantly 

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

9 and they make abortion services more difficult to access: 

10 (1) A requirement that a medical professional 

11 perform specific tests or medical procedures in con12 nection with the provision of an abortion, unless 

13 generally required for the provision of medically 

14 comparable procedures. 

15 (2) A requirement that the same clinician who 

16 performs a patient’s abortion also perform specified 

17 tests, services or procedures prior to or subsequent 

18 to the abortion. 

19 (3) A limitation on an abortion provider’s abil20 ity to prescribe or dispense drugs based on current 

21 evidence-based regimens or her or his good-faith 

22 medical judgment, other than a limitation generally 

23 applicable to the medical profession. 

24 (4) A limitation on an abortion provider’s abil25 ity to provide abortion services via telemedicine, 


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1 other than a limitation generally applicable to the 

2 provision of medical services via telemedicine. 

3 (5) A requirement or limitation concerning the 

4 physical plant, equipment, staffing, or hospital 

5 transfer arrangements of facilities where abortions 

6 are performed, or the credentials or hospital privi7 leges or status of personnel at such facilities, that is 

8 not imposed on facilities or the personnel of facilities 

9 where medically comparable procedures are per10 formed. 

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

12 abortion, a patient make one or more medically un13 necessary in-person visits to the provider of abortion 

14 services or to any individual or entity that does not 

15 provide abortion services. 

16 (7) A requirement or limitation that prohibits 

17 or restricts medical training for abortion procedures, 

18 other than a requirement or limitation generally ap19 plicable to medical training for medically comparable 

20 procedures. 

21 (b) OTHER PROHIBITED MEASURES OR ACTIONS.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—A measure or action that 

23 applies to and restricts the provision of abortion 

24 services or the facilities that provide abortion serv25 ices that is similar to any of the prohibited limitaVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:51 Mar 08, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1322.IH H1322

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1 tions or requirements described in subsection (a) 

2 shall be unlawful if such measure or action singles 

3 out abortion services or make abortion services more 

4 difficult to access and does not significantly advance 

5 women’s health or the safety of abortion services. 

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

7 facie showing that a measure or action is unlawful 

8 under paragraph (1) a plaintiff shall demonstrate 

9 that the measure or action involved— 

10 (A) singles out the provision of abortion 

11 services or facilities in which abortion services 

12 are performed; or 

13 (B) impedes women’s access to abortion 

14 services based on one or more of the factors de15 scribed in paragraph (3). 

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

17 in determining whether a measure or action impedes 

18 access to abortion services for purposes of paragraph 

19 (2)(B) include the following: 

20 (A) Whether the measure or action inter21 feres with an abortion provider’s ability to pro22 vide care and render services in accordance with 

23 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, including a prohibition, ban, or re20 striction on a particular abortion procedure, subject 

21 to subsection (d). 

22 (2) A prohibition on abortion after fetal viabil23 ity when, in the good-faith medical judgment of the 

24 treating physician, continuation of the pregnancy 


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

2 health. 

3 (3) A restriction that limits a pregnant wom4 an’s ability to obtain an immediate abortion when a 

5 health care professional believes, based on her or his 

6 good-faith medical judgment, that delay would pose 

7 a risk to the woman’s health. 

8 (4) A measure or action that prohibits or re9 stricts a woman from obtaining an abortion prior to 

10 fetal viability based on her reasons or perceived rea11 sons or that requires a woman to state her reasons 

12 before obtaining an abortion prior to fetal viability. 

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

14 not apply to laws regulating physical access to clinic en15 trances, requirements for parental consent or notification 

16 before a minor may obtain an abortion, insurance or med17 ical assistance coverage of abortion, or the procedure de18 scribed in section 1531(b)(1) of title 18, United States 

19 Code. 

20 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act shall apply to gov21 ernment restrictions on the provision of abortion services, 

22 whether statutory or otherwise, whether they are enacted 

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

24 Act. 


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1 SEC. 5. LIBERAL CONSTRUCTION. 

2 (a) LIBERAL CONSTRUCTION.—In interpreting the 

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

4 provisions to effectuate the purposes of the Act. 

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

6 shall be construed to authorize any government to inter7 fere with a woman’s ability to terminate her pregnancy, 

8 to diminish or in any way negatively affect a woman’s con9 stitutional right to terminate her pregnancy, or to displace 

10 any other remedy for violations of the constitutional right 

11 to terminate a pregnancy. 

12 SEC. 6. ENFORCEMENT. 

13 (a) ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The Attorney General 

14 may commence a civil action for prospective injunctive re15 lief on behalf of the United States against any government 

16 official that is charged with implementing or enforcing any 

17 restriction that is challenged as unlawful under this Act. 

18 (b) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any individual or entity ag20 grieved by an alleged violation of this Act may com21 mence a civil action for prospective injunctive relief 

22 against the government official that is charged with 

23 implementing or enforcing the restriction that is 

24 challenged as unlawful under this Act. 

25 (2) FACILITY OR PROFESSIONAL.—A health 

26 care facility or medical professional may commence 


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1 an action for prospective injunctive relief on behalf 

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

3 may be adversely affected by an alleged violation of 

4 this Act. 

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

6 section, the court may award appropriate equitable relief, 

7 including temporary, preliminary, or permanent injunctive 

8 relief. 

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

10 court shall award costs of litigation, as well as reasonable 

11 attorney fees, to any prevailing plaintiff. A plaintiff shall 

12 not be liable to a defendant for costs in an action under 

13 this section. 

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

15 States shall have jurisdiction over proceedings commenced 

16 pursuant to this section and shall exercise the same with17 out regard to whether the party aggrieved shall have ex18 hausted any administrative or other remedies that may be 

19 provided for by law. 

20 SEC. 7. PREEMPTION. 

21 No State or subdivision thereof shall enact or enforce 

22 any law, rule, regulation, standard, or other provision hav23 ing the force and effect of law that conflicts with any pro24 vision of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 8. SEVERABILITY. 

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

3 provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be un4 constitutional, the remainder of this Act, or the applica5 tion of such provision to all other persons or cir6 cumstances, shall not be affected thereby. 

Æ 


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