Evergreen Reporter

WASHINGTON, D.C.?–? On June 23, one day before the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) released a snapshot report about the impact on abortion providers and patients in the State of Washington.  

The snapshot report includes new data from 11 Planned Parenthood clinics in Central and Eastern Washington showing substantial increases in out-of-state abortion patients, especially from Idaho, in January through May of 2023 compared to the same time period in 2022.   

Sen. Cantwell also joined Senate colleagues in releasing a national report entitled One Year Without Roe: Health Care Providers Speak Out on Criminalized Care and Compounding Confusion. The 14-page report – based on testimony received from leading health care providers – reveals the direct, immediate threats to women’s reproductive health. 

"The devastating results of overturning Roe v. Wade are clear," said Sen. Cantwell. "A year after Dobbs, abortion bans or restrictions across half the states have stripped full reproductive choice from 25 million women, and many anti-choice activists are pushing for a nationwide abortion ban. So far, we have been able to protect reproductive care options in the State of Washington, but our health care system is coping with an influx of out-of-state women seeking medical care -- including a 56% increase in abortion patients coming from Idaho to Planned Parenthood clinics in Central and Eastern Washington compared to last year. I call on my Congressional colleagues to put an end to this chaos and restore access to reproductive rights to every woman in America."

Sen. Cantwell’s snapshot report on Washington state is available HERE and the national report is available HERE. 

Since last year’s leaked draft opinion indicated the Supreme Court’s intent to overturn the reproductive care precedent established under Roe v. Wade, Sen. Cantwell has been focused on protecting abortion access and choice for women across the country. In July 2022, following a meeting with health care providers at the University of Washington Medical Center, Sen. Cantwell cosponsored the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act to ban anti-choice states from penalizing or prosecuting health care providers that offer reproductive services in states where abortion care is legal. 

In March 2023, Sen. Cantwell joined Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) in reintroducing the Women’s Health Protection Act and hosting a roundtable discussion on the path forward to defend Americans’ reproductive rights.  

In April 2023, Sen. Cantwell joined hundreds of her Democratic colleagues in filing amicus briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals supporting the Biden Administration’s appeals of Texas federal district court and Fifth Circuit rulings which would restrict the availability of mifepristone. The Supreme Court agreed to a stay, permitting the safe and legal drug to remain available for the time being, but the litigation is still pending in the lower courts.  

Also in April, Sen. Cantwell joined U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and 25 other colleagues in reintroducing the Let Doctors Provide Reproductive Health Care Act, which would ban anti-choice states from restricting or preventing health care providers from performing legal abortions. 

Last month, Sen. Cantwell joined 12 Senate colleagues in reintroducing the My Body, My Data Act to protect personal reproductive health data.  

Also last month, Sen. Cantwell joined 29 Senate colleagues to introduce the Protecting Service Members and Military Families’ Access to Health Care Act, legislation that would codify the Department of Defense’s policy to help service members and their families access non-covered reproductive health care – including abortion services – regardless of the state in which they are stationed.  

Earlier this month, Sen. Cantwell joined colleagues in reintroducing the Right to Contraception Act to codify the right to contraception access established by the Supreme Court ruling Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965 and in reintroducing the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act.  

Original source can be found here.