On Dobbs Anniversary, Sherrill Leads on Abortion Rights and Reproductive Freedom

LIVINGSTON, NJ – Today, on the second anniversary of the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill – a champion of abortion rights and reproductive freedom – released the following statement: 

“Two years after Trump's hand-picked Supreme Court struck down a woman’s right to an abortion, reproductive freedom is still under attack. States across the country have restricted not only abortion and life-saving emergency care, but have also blocked efforts to protect access to contraception and threatened abortion providers with jail time. And MAGA Republicans in Congress are still trying to enact a national abortion ban. 

“That’s why I’m fighting back with action – on every front – to restore abortion rights and protect access to contraception, IVF, and reproductive health care for women nationwide. I won’t rest until women have full and unobstructed reproductive freedom under the law.” 

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and MAGA Republicans pursue a nationwide abortion ban, Sherrill has unveiled a plan of action to restore abortion rights in the military, through courts, and in the states. 

As a Navy veteran and member of the House Armed Services Committee, Sherrill has led the charge to protect access to abortion and contraception for servicewomen: 

• Abortion rights for servicewomen: Sherrill has led the charge to protect reproductive health care for American servicewomen. She introduced the Access to Reproductive Care for Servicemembers Act, which would codify portions of current Department of Defense policy, which guarantees military leave and travel cost reimbursements for service members denied abortion care where they are stationed. She stood up to Senator Tommy Tuberville’s (R-AL) crusade against the policy through unprecedented holds on military nominations. 
• National Defense Authorization Act: Sherrill successfully offered an amendment to codify policy allowing active duty servicewomen and active duty families to receive full year supplies of contraception. Republicans blocked her amendments on the floor that would have eliminated restrictions on abortion access at military treatment facilities (MTFs), prohibited states from preventing MTFs from providing emergency care to pregnant individuals, codified the DoD’s leave and travel reimbursement policy for traveling to receive an abortion, and information to both MTF healthcare providers and servicemembers about the kinds of care that MTFs must provide to patients.

In Congress, Sherrill is fighting for legislation to defend against efforts to enact a nation abortion ban, enshrine abortion rights into federal law, and protect access to contraception: 

• STOP Comstock Act: When the Comstock Act first banned abortion in 1873 – more than 150 years ago – women didn’t even have the right to vote. Now following the Supreme Court decision in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, Sherrill took action by supporting this bill to repeal portions of the Comstock Act that could be used to implement a national abortion ban with no exceptions. 
• Women’s Health Protection Act: Sherrill signed onto this legislation that will codify the right to an abortion in federal law. She helped pass the legislation through the House in September 2021 and again in July 2022, but the Senate did not take action prior to the end of the 117th Congress. In June of 2023, Sherrill signed a discharge petition that, with 218 signatures, would force a vote on the legislation in the Republican-controlled House. 
• Convenient Contraception Act: Sherrill helped introduce this legislation that would require private healthcare plans to cover full-year supplies of contraception instead of the current standard of 3-month supplies in most states, without charging an additional fee for that full supply. The legislation has been endorsed by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, NARAL: Pro-Choice America, National Women’s Law Center, Physicians for Reproductive Health, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and others.
• Right to Contraception Act: Sherrill supports this legislation that would codify in federal law that individuals and married couples have the right to access contraception. This legislation was introduced in the 117th Congress in response to Justice Thomas’ statement in his concurring opinion for Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization that the 1965 case Griswold v. Connecticut, which outlined the right to contraception, should be reconsidered. Sherrill helped pass this legislation in July 2022, but was not taken up in the Senate.

Through the courts, Sherrill is working to end cherry-picked litigation and fight back against far-right decisions that attack abortion and reproductive freedom: 

• End Judge Shopping Act of 2023: After the legal challenge against Mifepristone through Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, Sherrill introduced legislation that would require any civil lawsuit seeking a court order that would apply nationwide to be filed in a division of a district court with two or more active judges. This bill would tackle the practice of “judge-shopping”, which is used by anti-choice advocates to cherry-pick a court and outcome by filing lawsuits in single-judge divisions where they are all but assured to get a favorable ruling. 
• Amicus briefs in support of abortion access: Sherrill signed two different Congressional amicus briefs, one in the case of Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA and the other for the two consolidated cases on EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act). Those two cases are Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States. The amicus brief in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA supports the Biden Administration’s appeal of the lower court decision and calls into question the court’s decision to second-guess the FDA’s scientific determinations. The amicus brief on the two EMTALA cases fights back against attacks on the right for pregnant women to access life-saving care during health emergencies under EMTALA. The brief argues that EMTALA should preempt Idaho state law based on both the legislative text and previous application of the law. It also argues that the “necessary stabilizing treatment” hospitals must provide includes abortion care.

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