Call to Action: WHPA Would Make Make Abortion Rights Real, Even Post-Roe.

The Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS)recent decision to take up Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban case that directly challenges Roe is ringing alarms throughout our movement about the future of abortion rights. This case makes the upcoming re-introduction of the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) in Congress more crucial than ever.

WHPA (pronounced whip-ah) is “federal legislation creating a statutory right for health care providers to provide abortion care, and a corresponding right for their patients to receive that care, free from medically unnecessary restrictions that single out abortion and impede access.”

WHPA protects the right to abortion on a federal level, and if Roe falls, WHPA still stands. This bill also addresses the kind of restrictions—like TRAP laws—and timing bans, like the one that SCOTUS is considering, making abortion inaccessible. Most especially in the South and Midwest and among communities of color, Roe has not translated into meaningful access for far too many.

Unnecessary and burdensome restrictions cause clinic closures. Even if clinics remain open, barriers like transportation, cost, waiting periods, scripted counseling, mandated ultrasound viewing, and more often prevent those seeking care from fulfilling their decision. WHPA is so crucial because it protects access, not just the right to abortion.

WHPA works toward a future where all of us are free to make personal decisions that shape our lives, futures, and families without political interference. That is why we need all GRR!s to contact your members of Congress and urge them to pass WHPA. The protections in this bill could not be more urgent to put in place, given the likelihood of an unfavorable decision from SCOTUS in 2022.

Action Steps

• Read the fact sheet on WHPA here to learn more about it.

• Sign this online petition from Moms Rising as an individual.

• Look up which of your Congressional representatives and senators co-sponsored WHPA in the past. Then urge them to either continue their support or urge them to co-sponsor for the first time.

• The WHPA coalition website will send an automatic email to your members of Congress for you, based on your residential address.

• If you’d like to send a more personalized message or call one of their offices, we recommend using this site to find accurate contact information.