Rep. Bera, Democratic Doctors Caucus Introduce Bill to Protect Reproductive Health Care Providers

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Representative Ami Bera, M.D. (CA-06) joined his fellow members of the Democratic Doctors Caucus, Representatives Kim Schrier, M.D. (WA-08), Herb Conaway Jr., M.D. (NJ-03), Maxine Dexter, M.D. (OR-03), Kelly Morrison, M.D. (MN-03), and Raul Ruiz, M.D. (CA-25), in introducing the Let Doctors Provide Reproductive Health Care Act, legislation to protect physicians providing legal abortion care from politically motivated prosecution and legal harassment. 

Companion legislation was introduced in the Senate by Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM).

“Four years after Dobbs, we continue to see politicians inserting themselves into some of the most personal and complex medical decisions a patient can face,” said Representative Bera. “As a doctor, I believe patients deserve access to reproductive health care, and providers deserve the certainty that they can care for their patients without fear of prosecution. The Let Doctors Provide Reproductive Health Care Act protects both. We should be empowering doctors to care for their patients, not forcing them to navigate a patchwork of abortion restrictions, legal threats, and conflicting state laws that delay or deny patients the care they need.” 

“As a woman, a mother, and a pediatrician, I know that if, when, and under what circumstances to become a mother is one of the most important decisions a woman will make,” said Congresswoman Schrier. “I will continue to do everything I can to protect women’s access to contraception and safe abortion, which includes protecting abortion providers. State legislatures across the country and Republicans in Congress are using every tactic possible to restrict access to and criminalize abortion. Doctors should not have their hands tied or fear criminal penalties, loss of licensure, or loss of insurance coverage if they provide abortion care. This bill would preserve doctors’ ability to perform this important medical procedure, and ensure patients and their doctors are the ones making personal medical decisions – not the government."

“Caring for my patients as an OB-GYN for more than 20 years was a sacred duty,” said Congresswoman Kelly Morrison, the first and only pro-choice OB-GYN in Congress. “No doctor should be targeted for providing safe and evidence-based lifesaving care to their patients. Our focus should remain on caring for our patients and protecting their health and well-being, not on fearing prosecution. The Let Doctors Provide Reproductive Health Care Act protects the doctors who provide safe and legal reproductive health care, as well as the women who need it. On the fourth anniversary of Dobbs, which dismantled the right to abortion in the United States, this legislation is critical to strengthening the healthcare workforce and restoring reproductive autonomy and freedom. ” 

"As a physician, my responsibility has always been to provide patients with the best medical care possible based on science, evidence, and their individual needs—not political pressure or the threat of criminal penalties," said Congressman Conaway. "Patients deserve to know that when they seek reproductive health care, their doctors can offer medically appropriate treatment without fear of intimidation or prosecution. Four years after the Dobbs decision stripped millions of Americans of a fundamental right, Congress must act to protect both providers and patients. I’m proud to support the Let Doctors Provide Reproductive Health Care Act which helps ensure that medical decisions remain where they belong: between patients and their doctors.” 

“It has been my enormous privilege to care for patients through some of the hardest moments of their lives, and I know for certain that politicians and judges have absolutely no business inserting themselves into the incredibly personal medical decisions patients make in consultation with their physician,” said Congresswoman Maxine Dexter. “I am proud to support the Let Doctors Provide Reproductive Health Care Act to ensure physicians can provide the care their patients need without fear of prosecution. Let doctors practice medicine. Let patients make their own health care decisions.”

The Let Doctors Provide Reproductive Health Care Act would:

• Protect health care providers in states where abortion is legal from laws that try to prevent them from providing reproductive health care services or make them liable for providing those services to patients from any other state.
• Prohibit any federal funds from being used to pursue legal cases against individuals who access legal reproductive health care services or against health care providers in states where abortion is legal.
• Create a new grant program at the Department of Justice to fund legal assistance or legal education for reproductive health care service providers.
• Create a new grant program at the Department of Health and Human Services to support health care providers in obtaining physical, cyber, or data privacy security upgrades necessary to protect their practice and patients.
• Protect reproductive health care providers from being denied professional liability insurance coverage because of legal services offered to patients.

This bill is endorsed by All Above All, the Center for Reproductive Rights, National Council of Jewish Women, National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, National Partnership for Women & Families, National Women’s Law Center Action Fund, Physicians for Reproductive Health, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Power to Decide, and Reproductive Freedom for All.