The Women's Health Protection Act of 2023 is a federal law that prevents state and local governments from blocking or limiting access to abortion services. Before a fetus can survive outside the womb (called viability), the law says governments cannot stop doctors from using certain abortion methods, offering abortion through telemedicine (video visits), or providing quick abortions when delays could harm the patient's health. Governments also can't force doctors to do unnecessary procedures, give false medical information, or follow special rules that don't apply to doctors offering similar medical services.

For patients, the law means governments cannot require unnecessary in-person visits before getting an abortion or force patients to explain why they want one. After fetal viability, abortions are still allowed if needed to protect the pregnant person's life or health, with the same protections applying. The law also protects people's right to travel to another state for abortion services if needed.

The law blocks any government measure that singles out abortion access and makes it harder to get, unless that measure genuinely improves abortion safety and there's no less restrictive way to do it. If states or officials violate this law, the Department of Justice, patients, or abortion providers can sue them in court to enforce it. Essentially, this law establishes abortion access as a federal right that states cannot restrict or regulate in most ways.

Women’s Health Protection Act of 2023

Chu, Judy

Women's Health Protection Act of 2023 This bill prohibits governmental restrictions on the provision of, and access to, abortion services. Before fetal viability, governments may not restrict providers from <ul> <li>using particular abortion procedures or drugs,</li> <li>offering abortion services via telemedicine, or</li> <li>immediately providing abortion services if delaying risks the patient's health. </li> </ul> Furthermore, governments may not require providers to <ul> <li>perform unnecessary medical procedures,</li> <li>provide medically inaccurate information, or</li> <li>comply with credentialing or other conditions that do not apply to providers who offer medically comparable services to abortions. </li> </ul> Additionally, governments may not require patients to make medically unnecessary in-person visits before receiving abortion services or disclose their reasons for obtaining services. After fetal viability, governments may not restrict providers from performing abortions when necessary to protect a patient's life and health. The same provisions that apply to abortions before viability also apply to necessary abortions after viability. Additionally, states may authorize post-viability abortions in circumstances beyond those that the bill considers necessary. Further, the bill recognizes an individual's right to interstate travel, including for abortion services. The bill also prohibits governments from implementing measures that are similar to those restricted by the bill or that otherwise single out and impede access to abortion services, unless the measure significantly advances the safety of abortion services or health of patients and cannot be achieved through less restrictive means. The Department of Justice, individuals, or providers may sue states or government officials to enforce this bill, regardless of certain immunity that would otherwise apply.