SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – California's two senators are among a group of dozens of Democrats sponsoring legislation that would bar states from banning interstate travel to receive an abortion, but it faces long odds of passing the chamber.
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Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla co-sponsored the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act of 2022, which would make it illegal for states to ban residents from traveling to states to provide or receive an abortion in states where the practice is legal.
States would also be prohibited from punishing people and groups for "assisting an individual in traveling" to another state "to receive or provide reproductive health care" where it's legal to do so. The attorney general could file a civil lawsuit against states and officials barring such travel, as could any "individual or entity adversely affected by an alleged violation" of the proposed law.
Following the Supreme Court last month overturning two decisions establishing and affirming constitutional protections for abortion, respectively, anti-abortion groups and Republican state lawmakers have begun drafting legislation that would bar residents in states where abortion is banned from traveling elsewhere for the procedure.
"Access to an abortion is shamefully no longer a constitutionally protected right in the United States," Padilla said in a statement. "So long as that is the case, I will fight to ensure that every American is free to travel from anti-abortion states to states like California, where they can be in charge of their own reproductive health care decisions."
Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin were not among the Democrats sponsoring the bill. Sinema and Manchin do not support abolishing the filibuster in order to codify abortion rights into law, and it’s unlikely at least 10 Republicans would join with 50 Democrats in order to bring the bill to a vote.
Feinstein said in a statement last week that she would support removing the filibuster to pass the Women's Health Protection Act – which passed the House of Representatives last year.
"Let me be clear: If it comes down to protecting the filibuster or protecting a woman's right to choose, there should be no question that I will vote to protect a woman's right to choose," Feinstein said, days after a spokesperson wouldn’t tell the San Francisco Chronicle if the senator supported scrapping the filibuster.
Amid the possibility some prospective abortion patients could be punished for traveling out of state, a UCSF OB-GYN told KCBS Radio last week she is planning to launch a floating clinic aboard a boat in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico.
Legal experts who spoke with KCBS Radio said Dr. Meg Autry's plan to launch the “PRROWESS” – standing for "Protecting Reproductive Rights Of Women Endangered By State Statutes" – said anyone assisting a patient getting to the ship from a state where abortion is banned could, conceivably, face legal consequences.
The Feinstein- and Padillia-sponsored bill, if passed as written, would allow providers to sue for relief on behalf of themselves, their staff or patients "who are or may be adversely affected by an alleged violation" of the legislation.
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