IV 118th CONGRESS 1st Session H. RES. 555 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 23, 2023 Mrs. Watson Coleman (for herself, Ms. Kelly of Illinois , and Ms. Clarke of New York ) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce RESOLUTION Recognizing the importance of intersectionality for abortion access.

Whereas 1 in 4 women in the United States will have an abortion before the age of 45; Whereas approximately 22 million women and girls of reproductive age live in States where abortion is heavily restricted; Whereas over 1 in 3 women, plus more trans and nonbinary people, have lost access to abortion in their home States; Whereas the most common reason to end a pregnancy is due to potential interference with education, work, or the ability to care for dependents; Whereas nearly 50 percent of abortion patients have incomes below the poverty level; Whereas women living in poverty have a rate of unintended pregnancy that is five times higher than those with middle-class or upper-class incomes; Whereas unintended pregnancy remains the most common among poor women, women of color, and women without a high school education; Whereas Black women are twice as likely to have an unintended pregnancy than White women; Whereas Black women account for 38 percent of all abortions; Whereas Black women founded the Reproductive Justice movement in 1994 to address the lack of intersectionality and racial justice in the existing abortion rights movement; Whereas Black women are almost three times more likely than White women in the United States to die from childbirth; Whereas the risk of dying in childbirth is 14 times higher than the risk of dying from a safe abortion; Whereas the impacts of maternal mortality and increasing abortion restrictions are closely related to each other and both rooted in persistent structural racism and sexism; Whereas LGBTQI+ individuals experience major disparities in abortion and reproductive care; Whereas an estimated 16 percent of individuals having abortions do not identify as heterosexual women; Whereas several hundred transgender and nonbinary individuals obtain abortions annually at facilities that do not provide gender-affirming health care; Whereas abortion care and gender affirming care are both fundamental to the bodily autonomy of LGBTQI+ individuals; Whereas the banning and restriction of abortion around the country has created abortion-provider deserts, where some providers can only offer medication abortion rather than both medication and surgical abortions; Whereas medication abortion is the most common form of pregnancy termination and accounts for more than half of all abortions in the United States and increased access to abortions; Whereas medication abortion is under threat by antiabortion advocates utilizing junk science; and Whereas decisions from the Supreme Court and Federal district courts are threatening to the availability of abortions: Now, therefore, be it

That the House of Representatives— (1) recognizes that women of lower socioeconomic standing face the greatest risk when abortion is restricted; (2) acknowledges that women of racial and ethnic minorities and particularly Black women are at highest risk when abortion is restricted; (3) acknowledges that surgical and medication abortions are safe and any developments in science that affect abortion care should be reviewed by scientific and medical experts; and (4) calls upon the Federal Government to protect the right to abortion across the country.