Wisconsin Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin introduced a bill to Congress that would issue grants to people leaving their home states to procure abortion care.
Baldwin introduced the act alongside Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington.
The Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act would be an addendum to the Public Health Service Act and would ensure people seeking abortions have enough money to travel from their home state, according to the act.
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The Reproductive Health and Travel Fund Act would provide $350 million in grants to various abortion access groups and nonprofits each year over the next five years, according to the act.
Baldwin said the act will provide the funds necessary to allow women to make important decisions for their health.
“Every woman, no matter her zip code, deserves the freedom to make her own healthcare decisions — including the decision to have an abortion. Period,” Baldwin said in a tweet.
The act is unlikely to pass through Congress, according to WPR.
Associate director of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, Dr. Allison Linton said in an email statement to The Badger Herald that the Dobbs decision was extremely detrimental to women’s health and safety, and she strongly supports the proposed act.
“As a physician in Wisconsin, I have seen firsthand the detrimental impact the Dobbs decision has had on my patients’ ability to access the healthcare they need,” Linton said. “Women are confronted with multiple obstacles that can prevent them from accessing the health care they need, including increased costs for travel, hotel stays and childcare.
Linton said she is incredibly thankful to Baldwin for introducing the Reproductive Health Travel Act to assist her patients, as well as patients around the country.
Despite the act’s poor chances in Congress, proposing the act was a critically important gesture, University of Wisconsin professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology Jenny Higgins said in an email statement to the Badger Herald.
She said the act would be key to diminishing the financial effects of the federal Hyde Amendment, which was enacted in 1976 and barred the use of Medicaid funds to pay for abortions unless the life of the mother was at risk, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
“That amendment has created insurmountable barriers to abortion care for decades, especially among people living in poverty and in low incomes,” Higgins said.
