Women's Health Patient Navigator Act of 2022
Bill: S.5174 | Sponsor: Sen. Cortez Masto, Catherine (D-NV)
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Women's Health Patient Navigator Act of 2022
This bill provides funding for patient navigator grants to assist individuals in accessing abortion services.
The Department of Health and Human Services must award the grants to state, tribal, or local governments; nonprofits; or community organizations that offer unbiased and medically accurate programs, services, or activities to connect individuals with abortion services. Grant-funded activities include, among others, coordinating the scheduling, financing, and other logistics of abortion services.
Further, the bill prohibits individuals, entities, and states from preventing or otherwise disadvantaging an entity that is eligible to receive a grant from carrying out activities to assist individuals with accessing abortion services, including in any state in which those services are not lawful. Such activities include providing (or assisting in the provision of) abortion care and other reproductive health services that are either (1) lawful in the state where the services are provided, or (2) provided to an individual who does not reside in the state where the services are provided. The bill allows for enforcement of this prohibition through private lawsuits.

To establish a grant program to fund women's health patient navigators 
                  for patients seeking abortion care.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Women's Health Patient Navigator Act 
of 2022''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF WOMEN'S HEALTH PATIENT NAVIGATORS.

    Subpart V of part D of title III of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 256 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 340A-1. WOMEN'S HEALTH PATIENT NAVIGATORS.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall establish a grant program to 
support eligible entities for purposes of serving as women's health 
patient navigators for patients seeking to access abortion care in 
order to connect those patients to abortion services.
    ``(b) Eligible Entities.--To be eligible to receive a grant under 
this section, an entity shall--
            ``(1) be a nonprofit organization, a community-based 
        organization, a State, local governmental entity, or Tribal 
        government that, through programs, services, or activities that 
        are unbiased and medically- and factually-accurate, assists 
        individuals seeking abortion services; and
            ``(2) submit an application to the Secretary, at such time, 
        in such manner, and containing such information as the 
        Secretary may require, including a plan for--
                    ``(A) establishing and operating a program of 
                patient navigator services to help patients seeking 
                abortion services access abortion services, as 
                described in subsection (c); and
                    ``(B) ensuring that any personally identifiable 
                patient data obtained through the operation of such 
                program is kept confidential.
    ``(c) Activities.--An eligible entity receiving a grant under this 
section shall use such funds for the following activities related to 
abortion services:
            ``(1) Informing patients of medically-accurate, culturally- 
        and linguistically-appropriate services and resources.
            ``(2) Coordinating financing resources for travel-related 
        costs, including transportation, childcare, and lodging.
            ``(3) Coordinating abortion services, including identifying 
        available abortion providers and scheduling appointments.
            ``(4) Providing psycho-social support to patients seeking 
        abortion care.
            ``(5) Assisting patients seeking care with treatment 
        decision-making.
            ``(6) Developing partnerships with local community 
        organizations providing services for which eligible entity 
        provides assistance, abortion service providers, and other 
        patient navigators, such as patient navigators receiving grants 
        under section 340A.
            ``(7) Assisting with understanding reimbursement and health 
        insurance coverage options, including completing eligibility 
        and enrollment forms.
            ``(8) Assisting with understanding where abortion services 
        are legal and the ways in which abortion services may be 
        restricted.
    ``(d) Patient Navigator Protections.--
            ``(1) In general.--No individual, entity, or State may 
        prevent, restrict, impede, or disadvantage an entity eligible 
        to receive a grant under this section by nature of delivering 
        services described in subsection (c), or any affiliate of such 
        an entity or individual or other entity collaborating with such 
        an entity, from--
                    ``(A) providing or assisting a health care 
                provider, or any other person, with eligible services 
                described in subsection (c) related to reproductive 
                health care services--
                            ``(i) lawful in the State in which services 
                        are to be provided; or
                            ``(ii) provided for an individual who does 
                        not reside in the State in which the services 
                        are to be provided; or
                    ``(B) carrying out the activities described in this 
                section in any State, including any State in which 
                abortion services are not lawful.
            ``(2) Enforcement.--
                    ``(A) Attorney general.--The Attorney General may 
                commence a civil action on behalf of the United States 
                against any State, or against any government official, 
                individual, or entity that enacts, implements, or 
                enforces a limitation or requirement that violates 
                paragraph (1). The court shall hold unlawful and set 
                aside the limitation or requirement if it is in 
                violation of paragraph (1).
                    ``(B) Private right of action.--Any women's health 
                patient navigator adversely affected by an alleged 
                violation of paragraph (1) may commence a civil action 
                against any State that violates this subsection, 
                against any government official that enacts, 
                implements, or enforces a limitation or requirement 
                that violates paragraph (1), or against any individual 
                who, pursuant to State law, prevents, restricts, 
                impedes, or disadvantages the entity from carrying out 
                activities in violation of paragraph (1). The court 
                shall hold unlawful and enjoin the limitation or 
                requirement if it is in violation of paragraph (1).
                    ``(C) Equitable relief.--In any action under this 
                subsection, the court may award appropriate equitable 
                relief, including temporary, preliminary, or permanent 
                injunctive relief.
                    ``(D) Costs.--In any action under this subsection, 
                the court shall award costs of litigation, as well as 
                reasonable attorney's fees, to any prevailing 
                plaintiff. A plaintiff shall not be liable to a 
                defendant for costs or attorney's fees in any 
                nonfrivolous action under this subsection.
                    ``(E) Jurisdiction.--The district courts of the 
                United States shall have jurisdiction over proceedings 
                under this subsection and shall exercise the same 
                without regard to whether the party aggrieved shall 
                have exhausted any administrative or other remedies 
                that may be provided for by law.
                    ``(F) Abrogation of state immunity.--Neither a 
                State that enforces or maintains, nor a government 
                official who is permitted to implement or enforce, any 
                limitation or requirement that violates paragraph (1) 
                shall be immune under the Tenth Amendment to the 
                Constitution of the United States, the Eleventh 
                Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, or 
                any other source of law, from an action in a Federal or 
                State court of competent jurisdiction challenging that 
                limitation or requirement.
                    ``(G) Right to remove.--Any party shall have a 
                right to remove an action brought under this subsection 
                to the district court of the United States for the 
                district and division embracing the place where such 
                action is pending. An order remanding the case to the 
                State court from which it was removed under this 
                paragraph may be immediately reviewable by appeal or 
                otherwise.
    ``(e) Funding.--There are appropriated, for fiscal years 2023 
through 2027, out of amounts in the Treasury not otherwise 
appropriated, such sums as may be necessary for purposes of carrying 
out this section.''.
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