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Introduced June 24, 2025 by Judy Chu · Last progress June 24, 2025
Creates federal rights protecting access to abortion care before fetal viability and a right to travel to obtain reproductive health services, and bars state or other laws that impose burdensome, discriminatory, or medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion. It defines covered terms, sets a high evidentiary standard for any law defended as necessary to protect safety, allows the Attorney General and private parties to sue to block or enjoin violating laws, provides for fees and costs for prevailing plaintiffs, and takes effect on enactment.
This bill would create strong federal protections to ensure nationwide access to abortion and related reproductive care (and tools to enforce those protections), trading off increased federal‑state legal conflict, higher litigation and enforcement costs, and transitional uncertainty for providers and some local health systems.
People who can become pregnant (including women, transgender men, and non‑binary people) across the country would be able to obtain abortion care without state-imposed, medically unjustified barriers, reducing travel and other out-of-pocket costs.
The Act protects timely medical care — preserving pre-viability care, allowing post-viability procedures when the provider judges health/life at risk, and expanding use of telemedicine and medication abortion — which reduces delays and improves health outcomes.
Health-care providers (clinics, hospitals, telehealth providers, pharmacies) would be better able to deliver abortion care across state lines with protections for licensure and against discriminatory or extra regulatory burdens, lowering professional risk and preserving services.
The Act would significantly reduce state authority over abortion regulation and is likely to trigger extensive federal‑state legal conflict and litigation.
Providers and facilities in states with conflicting laws could face legal uncertainty, potential criminal or civil exposure, and operational disruption until courts resolve disputes.
The federal enforcement framework, private suits with fee-shifting, and increased litigation risk could raise costs for taxpayers, states, and providers (defense costs, settlements, fee awards).