[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4268 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4268

  To authorize grants to eligible entities to pay for travel-related 
    expenses and logistical support for individuals with respect to 
          accessing abortion services, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 21, 2023

  Ms. Strickland (for herself, Mrs. Fletcher, Ms. Bush, Mr. Smith of 
 Washington, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Cleaver, Ms. Titus, Mr. Connolly, Ms. Chu, 
Ms. Crockett, Mr. Panetta, Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Ms. Sanchez, Mr. Casten, 
Mrs. McClellan, Ms. DelBene, and Mrs. Ramirez) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To authorize grants to eligible entities to pay for travel-related 
    expenses and logistical support for individuals with respect to 
          accessing abortion services, 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 ``Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act 
of 2023''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds as follows:
            (1) On June 24, 2022, in its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson 
        Women's Health Organization (142 S. Ct. 2228 (2022)) (referred 
        to in this section as the ``Dobbs decision''), the Supreme 
        Court overruled Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 113 (1973)), eliminating 
        the constitutional right to abortion and reversing decades of 
        precedent recognizing the constitutional right to terminate a 
        pregnancy.
            (2) While abortion has never been available to all even 
        under Roe v. Wade, the Dobbs decision has decimated access for 
        millions of people in the United States. More than half of 
        States have already banned abortion or are likely to do so. In 
        fact, just 100 days after the Dobbs decision was announced, 66 
        clinics across 15 States had already been forced to stop 
        offering abortion services.
            (3) As expected, the implications of the Dobbs decision 
        will fall hardest on people who already face barriers to health 
        care access due to systemic barriers and discrimination, 
        particularly Black people, Indigenous people, and other people 
        of color, people with disabilities, people in rural areas, 
        young people, people with documentation barriers, LGBTQ+ 
        people, people who are parenting, people with complex medical 
        needs who require hospital-based care, and people having 
        difficulty making ends meet.
            (4) Abortion bans prevent many people from accessing care 
        they want and need. An estimated 10,670 fewer people accessed 
        abortions at clinics in the first 2 months immediately 
        following the Dobbs decision.
            (5) People have always had abortions and always will, even 
        in the face of legal, financial, and logistical barriers, or 
        criminalization. While some will self-manage their abortions, 
        and have the option of using pills that are medically safe and 
        effective, many others are traveling hundreds of miles out of 
        State, or are forced to carry pregnancies to term.
            (6) Just months after the Dobbs decision, one-third of 
        women of reproductive age in the United States faced excessive 
        travel times for abortion. For residents of States that had 
        banned abortion, travel times increased by more than 4 hours on 
        average. Black women faced the greatest impact, with 40 percent 
        needing to drive at least 1 hour for abortion care after the 
        decision, versus 15 percent before the decision.
            (7) Longer travel times lead to a host of other burdens for 
        abortion patients, including the cost of transportation, food, 
        lodging, childcare, and lost wages.
            (8) Abortion funds and practical support funds (referred to 
        in this section as ``funds'') are community-based organizations 
        that support people in overcoming financial and logistical 
        barriers to abortion care.
            (9) Funds work together to remove financial and logistical 
        barriers to abortion access and have been doing this work for 
        decades. Some of these barriers are transportation, food, 
        lodging, childcare, translation, doula services, among other 
        barriers.
            (10) Many funds are led by people who have had abortions 
        themselves, including a growing base of Black and Brown leaders 
        who have themselves faced abortion obstacles and understand the 
        complex circumstances individuals may face.
            (11) Abortion funds have a history of being under-resourced 
        and rely mostly on volunteer time and energy to support 
        communities.
            (12) Abortion and practical support funds hold some of the 
        closest ties to people who are having abortions and have the 
        first-hand experience, up-to-date and on-the-ground knowledge, 
        and the regional and national connections needed to support 
        abortion seekers financially, emotionally, or logistically.
            (13) More and more States are seeking to ban abortion or 
        enact extreme restrictions, significantly limiting the 
        circumstances in which abortions are available. Furthermore, 
        people have been prevented from seeking care because of the 
        confusion created by abortion restrictions, which has 
        contributed to a chilling effect for people seeking legal care 
        out of State. People seeking abortions often do not have a full 
        understanding of the abortion laws in their State and people 
        calling abortion funds for support often ask if they are doing 
        something illegal by traveling to get care. Abortion funds 
        serve to mitigate this confusion and directly connect people to 
        accurate information.
            (14) Clinics in States where abortion is legal and more 
        accessible continue to receive an influx of people seeking 
        abortions. Provider shortages, together with this rapid 
        increase in patients, is causing longer waits for appointments, 
        particularly for clinics near States with bans, many of which 
        have had waiting times of more than 3 weeks.
            (15) When people are not able to access an abortion when 
        they need it, they are often forced to seek an abortion much 
        further into their pregnancy. This increases costs 
        exponentially. Barriers to abortion care after the Dobbs 
        decision have led to an increasing complexity in the cases that 
        abortion funds are managing. People who are forced to cross 
        State lines for abortion care may need support for coordinating 
        and paying for higher logistical barriers (such as 
        transportation, lodging, meals, childcare, medication) to 
        access the abortion care they want, need, and deserve. For 
        many, the increased financial burden will push abortion care 
        completely out of reach without financial and logistical 
        assistance for appointment costs and travel.
            (16) Funds often collaborate to fully meet the needs of 
        people who are facing barriers to their abortion care, 
        including by filling any remaining funding gaps or referring a 
        caller traveling across regions to another fund. A national 
        network of almost 100 abortion and practical support funds has 
        demonstrated these funds are uniquely positioned to lead at 
        this moment and need support.

SEC. 3. GRANTS TO PAY FOR TRAVEL EXPENSES AND LOGISTICAL SUPPORT FOR 
              INDIVIDUALS ACCESSING ABORTION SERVICES.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in this 
section as the ``Secretary'') may award grants to eligible entities to 
pay for travel-related expenses and logistical support for individuals 
with respect to accessing abortion services.
    (b) Timing.--Beginning not later than 30 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall solicit applications for 
grants under this section.
    (c) Use of Funds.--
            (1) Permissible uses.--An eligible entity receiving a grant 
        under this section shall use the grant for travel-related 
        expenses and logistical support for individuals with respect to 
        accessing abortion services, which may include any of the 
        following expenses and support:
                    (A) Round trip travel to the location where the 
                abortion services are provided.
                    (B) Lodging.
                    (C) Meals.
                    (D) Childcare.
                    (E) Translation services.
                    (F) Doula care.
                    (G) Patient education and information services.
                    (H) Lost wages.
            (2) Organizational costs.--An eligible entity receiving a 
        grant under this section may use up to, but not more than, 15 
        percent of the grant funds to cover organizational costs such 
        as--
                    (A) community outreach efforts;
                    (B) physical infrastructure construction and 
                maintenance;
                    (C) website development and maintenance; and
                    (D) increasing staff capacity and training.
            (3) Impermissible uses.--An eligible entity receiving a 
        grant under this section shall not use the grant for costs of 
        an abortion procedure.
    (d) Applications.--To seek a grant under this section, an eligible 
entity shall submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in 
such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary 
determines appropriate.
    (e) Priority.--In selecting the recipients of grants under this 
section, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities that--
            (1) serve individuals who live in a jurisdiction that has 
        banned or severely restricted access to abortion;
            (2) serve individuals who travel to a jurisdiction other 
        than the one where they live to be provided abortion services; 
        or
            (3) have a program in operation, or submit as part of the 
        application required under subsection (d) a plan to establish 
        and operate a program, to help individuals access abortion 
        services.
    (f) Annual Reports to Congress.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary 
        shall submit to Congress a report on the program under this 
        section.
            (2) Confidentiality.--The reports under paragraph (1) shall 
        not include any individually identifiable information.
    (g) Preemption.--
            (1) In general.--The provisions of this section shall 
        supersede any provision of State, Tribal, territorial, or local 
        law that would have the effect of prohibiting any use of funds 
        provided for under this section.
            (2) Prohibition on federal cooperation in antiabortion 
        proceedings.--No Federal agency or official engaged in carrying 
        out the program under this section may cooperate with any 
        State, Tribal, territorial, or local antiabortion proceeding, 
        including any antiabortion investigation, prosecution, or civil 
        lawsuit, relating to the activities carried out under such 
        program or any individual or entity receiving or providing 
        services under such program.
    (h) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The term ``eligible entity''--
                    (A) means a nonprofit organization, or a community-
                based organization, that assists individuals seeking an 
                abortion through programs, services, or activities that 
                are unbiased and medically and factually accurate; and
                    (B) excludes any entity that discourages 
                individuals from seeking an abortion.
            (2) The term ``nonprofit organization'' means an 
        organization that--
                    (A) is described in subsection (c)(3) of section 
                501 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; and
                    (B) is, under subsection (a) of such section, 
                exempt from taxation.
    (i) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section, 
there is authorized to be appropriated $350,000,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2024 through 2028.
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