Gillibrand Leads Effort To Protect The Right Of Women To Cross State Lines To Seek Reproductive Care

Gillibrand Leads Effort To Protect The Right Of Women To Cross State Lines To Seek Reproductive Care

Jun 9, 2026

June 24, 2026 Marks Four Years Since the Supreme Court Overturned Roe v. Wade, Restricting The Right To Choose

Legislation Would Protect Women Who Cross State Lines for Reproductive Care and Providers Who Provide Care To Them

Ahead of the four-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's disastrous Dobbs decision, U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Patty Murray (D-WA) reintroduced the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act. This legislation would block anti-choice states and localities from limiting travel for abortion services and empower impacted individuals to bring a civil action against those who restrict a woman's right to cross state lines to receive legal reproductive care.

"When the Supreme Court overturned Roe, it stripped over 170 million Americans of their constitutional rights to privacy and bodily autonomy," said Senator 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."

Following the dangerous Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, anti-abortion states and localities have proposed and enacted legislation to investigate, prosecute, and sue women who travel out of state to get the care they need, as well as the health care providers that serve them and anyone who helps them make the journey. In one relevant case, a New York doctor was fined and criminally charged for providing mifepristone to patients in Texas and Louisiana.

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 healthcare providers in pro-choice states like New York from prosecution and lawsuits for serving individuals traveling from other states.

Specifically, it would:

• Reaffirm the constitutional basis for the right to interstate travel, including the relevant case law, and the authority of Congress to protect that right.
• Prohibit any person or government from:
  • Restricting any individual from traveling to another state to receive or provide reproductive healthcare that is legal in the destination state;
  • Restricting any individual or entity from assisting an individual in traveling to another state to receive or provide reproductive healthcare that is legal in the destination state;
  • Denying any right to an individual or entity in retaliation for supporting another person's travel to another state to receive or provide reproductive healthcare that is legal in the destination state; or
  • Holding liable a reproductive healthcare provider for providing legal reproductive healthcare services to an individual who does not reside in the state where the provider operates.
• Empower the attorney general to bring a civil action against any person who is in violation of the bill. Create a private right of action for any person or provider harmed in violation of the bill and allows them to seek relief, including damages, declaratory relief, and injunctive relief. Ensure that those cases can be heard in the appropriate federal district court.

Additional co-sponsors of the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act include Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

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, and In Our Own Voice: National Black Women's Reproductive Justice Agenda.

Senator Gillibrand has been a champion of reproductive healthcare throughout her tenure in office. Last month, she introduced the Military Access to Reproductive Care and Health (MARCH) for Military Servicemembers Act, which would allow military medical treatment facilities to provide abortion services and for the Department of Defense to cover associated costs. She also led the effort to enshrine the Equal Rights Amendment in the Constitution, which would codify equality and reproductive rights.

The full text of the legislation can be found here.

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