Sponsors (26)
Prevents HHS from using public health emergency authority for abortion, reinstates in‑person REMS for abortion drugs, and blocks REMS loosening until all States submit standardized abortion data to CDC.
Official title: To prohibit the use or declaration of a public health emergency with respect to abortion, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 24, 2025 by Kevin Hern · Last progress February 24, 2025
The bill trades expanded clinical oversight, competency requirements, and standardized reporting (aimed at improving safety and preserving Congressional control over emergency policy changes) for reduced access to medication abortion, higher provider costs and burdens, curtailed federal emergency flexibility, and heightened privacy/reporting concerns.
Women seeking medication abortion in states with clinic access will receive drugs in supervised clinical settings from prescribers required to meet competency standards, which may reduce risks from unsupervised self-administration and improve clinicians' ability to manage complications.
State public-health reporting will be more standardized, improving national surveillance data completeness for monitoring abortion safety and outcomes.
Taxpayers and the public are less likely to see HHS public-health emergency powers used to change abortion regulations, redirect funding, or expand services without explicit congressional approval, preserving legislative oversight.
Women — especially low-income and rural patients — will face substantially reduced access to medication abortion because drugs must be obtained in-person at clinics or hospitals and telehealth/pharmacy dispensing may be barred, increasing travel, delays, costs, wait times, and the risk of clinic closures.
Any active HHS abortion-related public health emergency would be terminated immediately, which could halt ongoing federal coordination, waivers, or funding that providers and patients rely on.
Hospitals, health systems, and patients could lose federal emergency authorities and streamlined processes (for example, data sharing and cross‑state licensure flexibilities), reducing the government's ability to mobilize resources and respond rapidly during abortion-related crises.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits the HHS Secretary from declaring or using Public Health Service emergency authorities with respect to abortion and immediately ends any such emergency in effect on enactment. It also requires reinstating and enforcing an in‑person dispensing requirement in any REMS that applies to abortion drugs, narrows who may dispense those drugs, prevents loosening REMS protections until every State submits standardized aggregate abortion data to CDC, and defines key terms such as "abortion drug," "certified health care provider," and "unborn child."