WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus’ Abortion Rights and Access Task Force, issued the following statement on the House’s second passage of the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA). Rep. Pressley is a lead co-sponsor of WHPA, bicameral legislation to guarantee equal access to abortion care, everywhere, which previously passed the House in September 2021. 

“Abortion care is health care. Today, the House of Representatives has yet again passed necessary legislation, that I am proud to co-lead, to enshrine the right to abortion care for everyone who calls America home.

“The People’s House has done its job, and we are calling on the Senate to do theirs. Daily, people are facing insurmountable barriers to abortion care. The fall out of the Supreme Court’s cruel and extreme ruling is devastating, and Senate Republicans are actively complicit in denying people the care they need. The Senate must end the Jim Crow filibuster and pass this bill to counteract the Supreme Court’s cruel and extreme decision.

“I applaud the White House and Department of Health and Human Services for acting on their executive authority to address access to abortion care and I call on them to declare a public health emergency to unlock more tools and resources to expand and protect abortion access. 

“The people are with us on this and families from every corner of the nation are counting on us to deliver. We must do everything we can to protect the fundamental right to bodily autonomy for everyone.”

Congresswoman Pressley has been a leading advocate for abortion access throughout her time in public life and she serves as Chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus’s Abortion Rights and Access Task Force. 

Last month, shortly before the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, Rep. Pressley led a group of her Black women colleagues in writing to President Biden urging him to declare a public health emergency amid the unprecedented threats to abortion rights nationwide. She also issued a statement condemning the Supreme Court decision and calling on the President to use every executive tool available to protect abortion access. 

In her time serving in Congress, Congresswoman Pressley has fought persistently to protect fundamental reproductive and sexual health care rights. 

• Last year, Congresswoman Pressley, along with U.S. Representatives Judy Chu (D-CA), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Veronica Escobar (D-TX) and Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), introduced the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), bicameral federal legislation to guarantee equal access to abortion care, everywhere. Recently, she issued a statement condemning the Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade., and implored the Senate to protect abortion rights and slammed the white supremacist roots of anti-abortion efforts.
• In September 2021, Rep. Pressley issued a statement condemning the Supreme Court’s inaction on SB-8, Texas’ restrictive abortion law. Later that month, she participated in a House Oversight Committee hearing to examine the threat posed by abortion bans and underscored the urgency of the Senate passing the Women’s Health Protection Act. 
• In April 2021, Rep. Pressley, along with Congresswomen Barbara Lee (CA-13), Diana DeGette (CO-01) and Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), led a group of 131 Democratic members in reintroducing the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance Act or the EACH Act, which would repeal the Hyde Amendment and ensure that all people, regardless of income, insurance or zip code, can make personal reproductive health care decisions without interference from politicians.
• As Chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus’s Abortion Rights and Access Task Force, Congresswoman Pressley has led the fight to repeal the Hyde Amendments from annual Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appropriations bills and in July 2020 published a Medium post on the importance of doing so. The amendment was
• In May 2020, she led more than 155 Members of Congress in calling on House Democratic leadership to ensure that any future COVID-19 relief packages rejected Republican efforts to use the public health crisis to diminish abortion access.
• In May 2019, she led more than 100 colleagues in introducing H.Con.Res.40, a resolution reaffirming the House of Representative’s support for Roe v. Wade.
• In June 2019, Rep. Pressley introduced H.R. 3296, the Affordability is Access Act, to make oral contraception available without a prescription. 
• In September 2016, as a member of the Boston City Council, Pressley championed a resolution calling on Congress and President Obama to repeal the Hyde Amendment and reinstate insurance coverage for abortion services.

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