[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1173 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1173
To protect, consistent with Roe v. Wade, a woman's freedom to choose to
bear a child or terminate a pregnancy, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 19, 2007
Mrs. Boxer (for herself, Mrs. Murray, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Bingaman, Mr.
Menendez, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Schumer, Mrs. Clinton, Mrs.
Feinstein, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Baucus, and Ms. Cantwell) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To protect, consistent with Roe v. Wade, a woman's freedom to choose to
bear a child or terminate a pregnancy, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Freedom of Choice Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The United States was founded on core principles, such
as liberty, personal privacy, and equality, which ensure that
individuals are free to make their most intimate decisions
without governmental interference and discrimination.
(2) One of the most private and difficult decisions an
individual makes is whether to begin, prevent, continue, or
terminate a pregnancy. Those reproductive health decisions are
best made by women, in consultation with their loved ones and
health care providers.
(3) In 1965, in Griswold v. Connecticut (381 U.S. 479), and
in 1973, in Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 113) and Doe v. Bolton (410
U.S. 179), the Supreme Court recognized that the right to
privacy protected by the Constitution encompasses the right of
every woman to weigh the personal, moral, and religious
considerations involved in deciding whether to begin, prevent,
continue, or terminate a pregnancy.
(4) The Roe v. Wade decision carefully balances the rights
of women to make important reproductive decisions with the
State's interest in potential life. Under Roe v. Wade and Doe
v. Bolton, the right to privacy protects a woman's decision to
choose to terminate her pregnancy prior to fetal viability,
with the State permitted to ban abortion after fetal viability
except when necessary to protect a woman's life or health.
(5) These decisions have protected the health and lives of
women in the United States. Prior to the Roe v. Wade decision
in 1973, an estimated 1,200,000 women each year were forced to
resort to illegal abortions, despite the risk of unsanitary
conditions, incompetent treatment, infection, hemorrhage,
disfiguration, and death. Before Roe, it is estimated that
thousands of women died annually in the United States as a
result of illegal abortions.
(6) In countries in which abortion remains illegal, the
risk of maternal mortality is high. According to the World
Health Organization, of the approximately 600,000 pregnancy-
related deaths occurring annually around the world, 80,000 are
associated with unsafe abortions.
(7) The Roe v. Wade decision also expanded the
opportunities for women to participate equally in society. In
1992, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (505 U.S. 833), the
Supreme Court observed that, ``[t]he ability of women to
participate equally in the economic and social life of the
Nation has been facilitated by their ability to control their
reproductive lives.''.
(8) Even though the Roe v. Wade decision has stood for more
than 34 years, there are increasing threats to reproductive
health and freedom emerging from all branches and levels of
government. In 2006, South Dakota became the first State in
more than 15 years to enact a ban on abortion in nearly all
circumstances. Supporters of this ban have admitted it is an
attempt to directly challenge Roe in the courts. Other States
are considering similar bans.
(9) Further threatening Roe, the Supreme Court recently
upheld the first-ever Federal ban on an abortion procedure,
which has no exception to protect a woman's health. The
majority decision in Gonzales v. Carhart (05-380, slip op.
April 18, 2007) and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood Federation
of America fails to protect a woman's health, a core tenet of
Roe v. Wade. Dissenting in that case, Justice Ginsburg called
the majority's opinion ``alarming'', and stated that, ``[f]or
the first time since Roe, the Court blesses a prohibition with
no exception safeguarding a woman's health''. Further, she
said, the Federal ban ``and the Court's defense of it cannot be
understood as anything other than an effort to chip away at a
right declared again and again by this Court''.
(10) Legal and practical barriers to the full range of
reproductive services endanger women's health and lives.
Incremental restrictions on the right to choose imposed by
Congress and State legislatures have made access to
reproductive care extremely difficult, if not impossible, for
many women across the country. Currently, 87 percent of the
counties in the United States have no abortion provider.
(11) While abortion should remain safe and legal, women
should also have more meaningful access to family planning
services that prevent unintended pregnancies, thereby reducing
the need for abortion.
(12) To guarantee the protections of Roe v. Wade, Federal
legislation is necessary.
(13) Although Congress may not create constitutional rights
without amending the Constitution, Congress may, where
authorized by its enumerated powers and not prohibited by the
Constitution, enact legislation to create and secure statutory
rights in areas of legitimate national concern.
(14) Congress has the affirmative power under section 8 of
article I of the Constitution and section 5 of the 14th
amendment to the Constitution to enact legislation to
facilitate interstate commerce and to prevent State
interference with interstate commerce, liberty, or equal
protection of the laws.
(15) Federal protection of a woman's right to choose to
prevent or terminate a pregnancy falls within this affirmative
power of Congress, in part, because--
(A) many women cross State lines to obtain
abortions and many more would be forced to do so absent
a constitutional right or Federal protection;
(B) reproductive health clinics are commercial
actors that regularly purchase medicine, medical
equipment, and other necessary supplies from out-of-
State suppliers; and
(C) reproductive health clinics employ doctors,
nurses, and other personnel who travel across State
lines in order to provide reproductive health services
to patients.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Government.--The term ``government'' includes a branch,
department, agency, instrumentality, or official (or other
individual acting under color of law) of the United States, a
State, or a subdivision of a State.
(2) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the States,
the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and
each territory or possession of the United States.
(3) Viability.--The term ``viability'' means that stage of
pregnancy when, in the best medical judgment of the attending
physician based on the particular medical facts of the case
before the physician, there is a reasonable likelihood of the
sustained survival of the fetus outside of the woman.
SEC. 4. INTERFERENCE WITH REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PROHIBITED.
(a) Statement of Policy.--It is the policy of the United States
that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child,
to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability, or to terminate a
pregnancy after fetal viability when necessary to protect the life or
health of the woman.
(b) Prohibition of Interference.--A government may not--
(1) deny or interfere with a woman's right to choose--
(A) to bear a child;
(B) to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability; or
(C) to terminate a pregnancy after viability where
termination is necessary to protect the life or health
of the woman; or
(2) discriminate against the exercise of the rights set
forth in paragraph (1) in the regulation or provision of
benefits, facilities, services, or information.
(c) Civil Action.--An individual aggrieved by a violation of this
section may obtain appropriate relief (including relief against a
government) in a civil action.
SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY.
If any provision of this Act, or the application of such provision
to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the
remainder of this Act, or the application of such provision to persons
or circumstances other than those as to which the provision is held to
be unconstitutional, shall not be affected thereby.
SEC. 6. RETROACTIVE EFFECT.
This Act applies to every Federal, State, and local statute,
ordinance, regulation, administrative order, decision, policy,
practice, or other action enacted, adopted, or implemented before, on,
or after the date of enactment of this Act.
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