2.9 million women with disabilities live in states that ban or could ban abortion. Murray’s Reproductive Health Access Act would remove barriers and increase access to reproductive health care for people with disabilities.
Women with disabilities have an 11 times higher risk of maternal mortality, and some disabilities can make childbirth life-threatening, making the Republican Party’s brutal abortion ban even more dangerous for people with disabilities.
Senator Murray: “As we continue to fight back against intensifying Republican attacks on reproductive health care across the country, we must do more to ensure women and people with disabilities have access to quality health care from providers who understand their unique health care needs.”
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP), and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) reintroduced the Reproductive Healthcare Accessibility Act, which would improve access to reproductive health care for people with disabilities who face discrimination and additional barriers when seeking care, and help them receive the informed care they need to take control of their reproductive lives. Representatives Cori Bush (D-MO 1st District) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA 7th District) have introduced a companion bill in the House of Representatives.
A recent analysis by the National Partnership for Women and Families found that one year after Dobbs, more than 36 million women of reproductive age live in states that ban or could potentially ban abortion, and 2.9 million of these women are disabled. Women with disabilities are more likely to experience complications during pregnancy, and women with disabilities have an 11 times higher risk of maternal death and a higher risk of maternal morbidity. Depending on their disability or underlying medical condition, giving birth can be dangerous or life-threatening, making Republican cruel abortion bans even more dangerous for people with disabilities. Pregnant women with disabilities often encounter health care providers who lack the knowledge or comfort of managing their pregnancies, which also increases their risk of pregnancy-related health complications. A shortage of disabled health care professionals with diverse life experiences and health care providers trained in the unique needs of people with disabilities also contributes to this problem. According to the National Partnership for Women and Families, the anti-abortion laws that took effect one year after Dobbs have left disabled patients, and women across the country, without health care providers who can provide them with an adequate or adequate level of care.
“People with disabilities have long faced discrimination and significant obstacles to accessing the health care they need, including abortion care, and the year after abortion rights were overturned in Dobbs, this has become a full-blown crisis, especially for the nearly 3 million women with disabilities who live in states where reproductive health care is unavailable,” said Senator Murray. “As we continue to fight back against intensifying Republican attacks on reproductive health care across the country, we have much more work to do to ensure that women and people with disabilities can access quality health care from providers who understand their unique health care needs. The legislation Senator Duckworth and I have put together would go a long way to helping people with disabilities access quality reproductive health care, and I will fight to pass it this Congress.”
The senators’ bill would provide grants for training and education programs for health care professionals focused on the reproductive health needs of people with disabilities, increase the representation of people with disabilities in the doctor and nurse workforce, and establish a new technical assistance center to provide recommendations and best practices on sexual and reproductive health care for people with disabilities. The senators first introduced the bill last year.
“Americans with disabilities have long faced barriers to health care services, equipment, and providers, and many are rightfully concerned that they will have even harder time receiving the reproductive health care they need as the right wing seeks to further undermine these rights in the wake of the overturning of Roe,” said Senator Duckworth. “Today, I am proud to join Senator Murray and my colleagues in reintroducing the Reproductive Health Care Access Act to ensure that all of us in the disability community are not denied the health care we need, when we need it.”
“As a nurse and a legislator, I know firsthand that our work to protect the health and well-being of all people must be inclusive, culturally appropriate, and rooted in the needs of the most marginalized communities,” said Rep. Bush. “I am proud to work with my colleagues to reintroduce the Reproductive Health Care Access Act in both chambers. This bill is a critical step toward removing unnecessary barriers to life-saving care and addressing the sexual and reproductive health disparities that people with disabilities endure every day. These important programs will help save lives.”
“Access to reproductive health care is threatened every day, and our brothers and sisters with disabilities are severely impacted by barriers to receiving care,” said Rep. Pressley. “Now more than ever, we need inclusive, culturally inclusive, and accessible reproductive health care for the disability community. I am proud to join this bicameral effort to reintroduce the Reproductive Health Care Access Act. Lives literally depend on it.”
“This bill is a major step forward in addressing some of the significant barriers people with disabilities face when accessing reproductive health care and makes clear the desperate need for laws and policies to redress people with disabilities’ right to culturally competent reproductive health care. This bill will provide necessary education to health care providers, reproductive health educators, and people with disabilities about the reproductive health care needs and rights of people with disabilities,” said Mia Ives Rubley, Disability Justice Initiative Director at CAP. “As reproductive rights continue to come under attack and laws protecting these rights are rolled back across the country, the introduction of this bill is more urgent than ever. We must ensure that the most vulnerable in our society are protected, and bills like the Reproductive Health Accessibility Act can do that.”
“We are proud to support the Reproductive Healthcare Accessibility Act. Especially at a time when reproductive rights are under attack and disproportionately impact people with disabilities, especially people of color, we urgently need to remove the barriers people with disabilities face when making decisions about their bodies and receiving reproductive care,” said Maayan Anafi, senior counsel for health equity and justice at the National Women’s Law Center. “As the National Women’s Law Center documented in its report on today’s widespread forced sterilization laws, people with disabilities are often denied the right to make the most basic decisions about their care and future. This legislation provides an important step toward reducing the barriers and mistreatment people with disabilities face when accessing reproductive care. Through measures like promoting community-led health care worker trainings and increasing representation of people with disabilities in the health care field, this bill will help lay the foundation for a health care system in which all people with disabilities can exercise their reproductive autonomy with dignity and respect.”
The Reproductive Health Care Access Act would lower barriers to sexual and reproductive health care and ensure people with disabilities have timely access to appropriate health care. Specifically, the bill would:
Provide grants to eligible organizations to implement training programs for health care professionals who provide reproductive health care to people with disabilities ($10 million); Expand the workforce by adding more people with disabilities to the physician and nurse workforce ($15 million); Provide grants to implement educational programs focused on the sexual and reproductive health needs of people with disabilities ($10 million); Establish a new technical assistance center to provide recommendations and best practices on sexual and reproductive health care for people with disabilities ($10 million); Direct the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a study to analyze sexual and reproductive health care for people with disabilities ($15 million).
The bill is supported by the Ohio Abortion Fund, Youth Advocates, American Association of People with Disabilities, American Humanist Association, Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs, Autistic People of Color Foundation, Autism Self-Advocacy Network, Autistic Women and Non-Binary Network, Care in Action, Intergenerational Care, Center for American Progress, Center for Economic and Policy Research, Center for Reproductive Rights, Community Catalyst, COVID-19 Long Hauler Advocacy Project, Century Foundation Senior Fellow and Disability Economic Justice Collaborative Director Dr. Kimberly Knackstedt, Dr. Robin M. Powell, Guttmacher Institute, Hadassah, Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Health Teen Network, Ibis Reproductive Health, IPAS, Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, Johns Hopkins Center for Disability Health Research, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Lurie Disability Policy Institute, and NARAL. Pro-Choice America, National Abortion Federation, National Association of Women’s Health Nurses, National Council of Jewish Women, National Domestic Workers Alliance, National Planned Parenthood and Reproductive Health Association, National Health Law Program, National Latina Reproductive Justice Institute, National Organization for Women, National Partnership for Women & Families, National Domestic Violence Resource Center, National Women’s Health Network, National Women’s Law Center, Neighborhood Access, Sexual and Reproductive Health Nurses Association, Patient-Led Research Collaborative, Reproductive Health Physicians Association, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Population Institute, Positive Women’s Network (USA), Decisive Power, ReproAction, Reproductive Health Access Project, Reproductive Health Impact, SIECUS: Sex Education for Social Change, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Action Network (#MEAction), Tzedek DC, United for Reform Judaism, URGE: United for Reproductive and Gender Equity, Reform Women of Judaism, Young Democrats Caucus on Disabilities of America, and Young Democrats of Massachusetts.
The bill is also co-sponsored by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York), Maggie Hassan (D-New Hampshire), Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts), Alex Padilla (D-California), Bernie Sanders (Vermont Independent), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), Peter Welch (D-Vermont), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), and Ron Wyden (D-Oregon).
A one-page document on the bill can be found here.
The full text of the Reproductive Health Care Accessibility Act can be found here.
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