2.9 million disabled women live in states that have banned or are likely to ban abortion; Murray’s Reproductive Health Care Accessibility Act would remove barriers and strengthen access to reproductive care for people with disabilities
Disabled women are at 11 times greater risk of maternal mortality; some disabilities make childbirth life-threatening, making Republicans’ cruel abortion bans all the more dangerous for people with disabilities
Senator Murray: “As we continue to fight back against Republicans’ escalating attacks on reproductive health care across the country, there’s so much more we need to do to ensure women and people with disabilities can access high-quality care from providers who understand their unique healthcare needs.”
Washington, D.C. —Today, U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) reintroduced their Reproductive Health Care Accessibility Act, legislation to help people with disabilities—who face discrimination and extra barriers when seeking care—get better access to reproductive health care and the informed care they need to control their reproductive lives. Representatives Cori Bush (D, MO-01) and Ayanna Pressley (D, MA-07) are introducing companion legislation in the House.
A recent analysis from the National Partnership for Women & Families found that, one year after the Dobbs decision, more than 36 million women of reproductive age live in states that have or are likely to ban abortion—of these women, 2.9 million are disabled. Disabled women are more likely to experience complications during pregnancy; disabled women are at 11 times greater risk of maternal mortality and are also at greater risk for maternal morbidity. Some disabilities and underlying conditions make childbirth dangerous or potentially life-threatening, making Republicans’ cruel abortion bans all the more dangerous for people with disabilities. Pregnant women with disabilities often encounter health care practitioners who lack knowledge or comfort in managing their pregnancies, which also puts them at heightened risk for pregnancy-related health complications—and the lack of disabled medical professionals with diverse lived experiences, or providers who are trained on the unique needs of people with disabilities, contributes to this issue. According to the National Partnership for Women & Families, abortion bans that have gone into effect in the year since the Dobbs decision are leaving disabled patients—and women across the country—without providers who are able to provide an adequate or appropriate standard of care.
“People with disabilities have long faced discrimination and real roadblocks to getting the health care, including abortion care, that they need—and it’s become a full-blown crisis in the year after the Dobbs decision overturned the right to abortion, especially for the nearly 3 million disabled women who live in states without access to reproductive health care,” said Senator Murray. “As we continue to fight back against Republicans’ escalating attacks on reproductive health care across the country, there’s so much more we need to do to ensure women and people with disabilities can access high-quality care from providers who understand their unique health care needs. My legislation with Senator Duckworth would make a big difference in helping people with disabilities access the high-quality reproductive care they deserve—and I’ll be fighting to pass it this Congress.”
The senators’ legislation would provide grant funding for training and education programs for health care professions focused on the reproductive health needs of people with disabilities, help to increase the representation of people with disabilities in the physician and nursing workforce, and establish a new technical assistance center to provide recommendations and best practices regarding sexual and reproductive health care for people with disabilities, among other things. The senators first introduced the bill last year.
“For too long, Americans with disabilities have faced persistent barriers to healthcare services, equipment and providers—and with right-wing efforts underway to go even further to undermine these rights in the wake of the overturning of Roe—many are rightfully worried about having an even harder time accessing the reproductive care they need,” said Senator Duckworth. “Today, I’m proud to join Senator Murray and colleagues in reintroducing the Reproductive Healthcare Accessibility Act to help ensure all of us in the disability community are not left behind in getting the care we need, when we need it.”
“As a nurse and lawmaker, I understand firsthand that our work to protect the health and well-being of all people must be inclusive, culturally competent and rooted in the needs of our most marginalized communities,” said Congresswoman Bush. “I’m proud to join my colleagues in reintroducing the bicameral Reproductive Health Care Accessibility Act. This legislation is another important step toward removing unnecessary barriers to lifesaving care and addressing the gaps in sexual and reproductive health endured daily by people living with disabilities. These vital programs will help save lives.”
“There has been a daily assault on access to reproductive health care, and our siblings with disabilities are deeply impacted by barriers to care,” said Representative Pressley. “Now more than ever we need comprehensive, culturally congruent, and accessible reproductive health care for the disability community. I am proud to join this bicameral effort and reintroduce the Reproductive Health Care Accessibility Act. Lives literally depend on it.”
“This bill marks a major push forward in addressing some of the significant barriers disabled people face in pursuing reproductive healthcare and makes clear that there is a dire need for legislation and policies to redress disabled people’s right to culturally competent reproductive health care. This bill will provide necessary education around disabled people’s reproductive health care needs and rights to health care providers, reproductive health educators, and disabled people,” said Mia Ives-Rublee, Director of the Disability Justice Initiative at CAP. “The introduction of this bill is more imperative than ever as reproductive rights continue to face attacks and the laws that protect these rights are rolled back across the country. We must ensure that the most vulnerable in our society are protected, and we can do that with bills like the Reproductive Health Care Accessibility Act.”
“We are proud to endorse the Reproductive Health Care Accessibility Act. Especially at a time when reproductive rights are under attack—with disproportionate impacts on disabled people, especially those of color—we urgently need to dismantle the barriers disabled people face to making decisions about our bodies and obtaining reproductive care,” stated Ma’ayan Anafi, Senior Counsel for Health Equity and Justice at the National Women’s Law Center. “As the National Women’s Law Center documented in a report on today’s widespread forced sterilization laws, disabled people are often denied the right to make the most basic decisions about our care and our futures. This legislation offers crucial steps toward reducing the barriers and mistreatment that disabled people too often face when accessing reproductive care. Through measures like promoting community-driven provider training and improving disability representation in health care fields, this bill helps lay the foundation for a health care system where all disabled people can exercise their reproductive autonomy with dignity and respect.”
The Reproductive Health Care Accessibility Act would lower barriers to sexual and reproductive care and help ensure disabled people get timely access to competent health care. Specifically, the bill would:
- Provide grant funding to eligible entities to carry out training programs for health care professionals providing reproductive health care for individuals with disabilities ($10 million);
- Expand the physician and nursing workforce by increasing the representation of people with disabilities in such workforces ($15 million);
- Provide grant funding to carry out education programs focused on the sexual and reproductive health care needs of people with disabilities ($10 million);
- Establish a new technical assistance center to provide recommendations and best practices regarding sexual and reproductive health care for people with disabilities ($10 million); and
- Direct the Department of Health and Human Services to carry out a study to analyze reproductive health care for people with disabilities ($15 million).
The legislation is endorsed by: Abortion Fund of Ohio, Advocates for Youth, American Association of People with Disabilities, American Humanist Association, Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs, Autistic People of Color Fund, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, Care in Action, Caring Across Generations, Center for American Progress, Center for Economic and Policy Research, Center for Reproductive Rights, Community Catalyst, COVID-19 Longhauler Advocacy Project, Dr. Kimberly Knackstedt–Senior Fellow at The Century Foundation and Director of the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative, Dr. Robyn M. Powell, Guttmacher Institute, Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Health Teen Network, Ibis Reproductive Health, Ipas, Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, Johns Hopkins Disability Health Research Center, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Lurie Institute for Disability Policy, NARAL Pro-Choice America, National Abortion Federation, National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health, National Council of Jewish Women, National Domestic Workers Alliance, National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, National Health Law Program, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, National Organization for Women, National Partnership for Women & Families, National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, National Women’s Health Network, National Women’s Law Center, Neighborhood Access, Nurses for Sexual & Reproductive Health, Patient-Led Research Collaborative, Physicians for Reproductive Health, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Population Institute, Positive Women’s Network–USA, Power to Decide, Reproaction, Reproductive Health Access Project, Reproductive Health Impact, SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change, The Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Action Network (#MEAction), Tzedek DC, Union for Reform Judaism, URGE: Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity, Women of Reform Judaism, Young Democrats of America Disability Caucus, Young Democrats of Massachusetts.
The legislation is also cosponsored by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), John Fetterman (D-PA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Tina Smith (D-MN), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse, (D-RI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
A one-pager on the bill is available here.
The full text of the Reproductive Health Care Accessibility Act is here.
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