Bennet, Hickenlooper, Cortez Masto Introduce Legislation to Protect the Right of Women to Cross State Lines to Seek Abortion Care

Jun 12, 2026 | Press Releases

Denver - Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper joined Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) to reintroduce the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act ahead of the four-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's disastrous Dobbs decision. This legislation would block anti-choice states and localities from limiting travel for abortion services and empower impacted individuals to bring civil action against those who restrict a woman's right to cross state lines to receive legal reproductive care.

"Almost four years ago today, the Supreme Court overturned fifty years of legal precedent, making it significantly more challenging for Americans to access reproductive healthcare," said Bennet. "Since then, maternal mortality rates have grown consistently in states where access to abortions are restricted or banned. The Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act will save lives. We must ensure that all Americans can make their own decisions about their bodies and their futures, no matter where they live. I will continue to fight for access to reproductive health care in Colorado and across the United States."

"Women should never face prosecution for seeking reproductive care," said Hickenlooper. "For decades, this basic freedom was protected nationwide until it was shamefully stripped away. Failing to protect a woman's right to make her own healthcare decisions would be a stain on our nation."

"As we approach the anniversary of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, it is critical that we remain vigilant against continued efforts to further roll back women's reproductive freedoms," said Cortez Masto. "For women in states where abortion became illegal over the last four years, the right to travel for abortion care is a lifeline. We cannot stop pushing back against any attempts to limit this right and make women second-class citizens in America."

"Republican states responded to the right-wing Supreme Court justices' demolition of Roe v. Wade by enacting increasingly extreme abortion bans and restrictions, including attempts to ban women from travelling to safe states and to punish out-of-state doctors," said Whitehouse. "Our Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act protects the rights of women to cross state lines, a fundamental tenet of American life. The legislation would also protect medical providers from punishment for providing reproductive health care that is legal in their state."

"In the four years since Dobbs was overturned, we've heard countless stories of women forced to travel across state lines to obtain abortion care or even receive treatment for a miscarriage. Yet some Republican lawmakers now want to punish women for exercising their constitutional right to travel freely within our country to get the care they need. It's sickening and wrong." said Murray. "Our bill would protect Americans' constitutional right to travel across state lines to get a lawful abortion - and protect the providers who care for them. As Republicans do everything they can to strip away our constitutional rights, I am going to keep fighting to protect every woman's access to the basic health care they deserve."

"When the Supreme Court overturned Roe, it stripped over 170 million Americans of their constitutional rights to privacy and bodily autonomy," said Gillibrand. "The Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act would reaffirm the constitutional right to travel freely across state lines and empower Americans to take action against those who seek to block women from traveling to access the reproductive health care they need. It is essential that we fight back against these attacks on our liberty."

Anti-choice politicians in states like Texas have sought to punish both women for leaving their state for reproductive care and the doctors and employers who help them. The Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act underscores the Constitutional protections for interstate travel and provides redress for women whose rights are violated. The legislation would also protect health care providers in pro-choice states, like Colorado, from prosecution and lawsuits for serving individuals traveling from other states.

"Nearly two dozen states have abortion bans on the books that are forcing people to travel hundreds of miles for the care they need, and anti-abortion extremists want to punish people for crossing state lines to do so. The Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act comes at a critical moment. We thank Senator Cortez Masto for her leadership on this bill to protect patients and providers - no matter where they live," said Mini Timmaraju, President and CEO, Reproductive Freedom for All.

"The Trump Administration and its backers in Congress are determined to make it harder for everyone, everywhere to get an abortion, even in states where abortion is legal. Their deeply unpopular anti-abortion agenda has already decimated our health care landscape and abortion bans stretch across 20 states, forcing patients to travel. We need every lawmaker to use every tool in their toolbox to protect access to abortion. We are grateful to Sen. Cortez Masto, Whitehouse, Murray, and Gillibrand for introducing a bill that reaffirms a patient's right to travel for time-sensitive, essential abortion care, and prohibits interference with those who are forced to cross state lines as well as those who assist patients in their travels. As attacks on life-saving health care intensify, it is crucial that patients can continue to travel for abortion care, and the people who help them are able to do so without the threat of civil or criminal penalties," said Alexis McGill Johnson, President and CEO, Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

The Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act is endorsed by Reproductive Freedom for All, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, ACLU, Guttmacher Institute, Physicians for Reproductive Health, National Partnership for Women and Families, Center for Reproductive Rights, Power to Decide, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, National Council of Jewish Women, National Women's Law Center Action Fund, National Abortion Federation, National Network of Abortion Funds, National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, In Our Own Voice: National Black Women's Reproductive Justice Agenda, and the Silver State Hope Fund.

Bennet has continually fought to secure abortion rights and women's health resources in Colorado. In June 2025, Bennet and Hickenlooper joined the Senate Democratic caucus to introduce the Women's Health Protection Act, legislation to guarantee access to abortion nationwide, on the third anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. In October 2024, Bennet and Hickenlooper joined 258 members of Congress in submitting an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, calling on the court to require Medicare-funded hospitals to provide life-saving care that may include abortion care. In May 2026, Bennet and Hickenlooper joined Murray and 23 senate colleagues to reintroduce the Let Doctors Provide Reproductive Health Care Act, legislation to protect abortion providers in states like Colorado - where abortion remains legal - from Republicans' attempts to restrict their practice and create uncertainty about their legal liability.

In addition to Bennet, Hickenlooper, Murray, Whitehouse, Gillibrand and Cortez Masto, U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), John Fetterman (D-Penn.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) co-sponsored the bill.

The text of the bill is available HERE.

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