Rep. Chu Urges Supreme Court to Protect Constitutional Right to Choose

On Friday, the Supreme Court announced that it will hear the Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole case, which challenges two provisions of a Texas state law that effectively shut down women’s health clinics. Rep. Judy Chu (CA-27), released the following statement:

“The right of a woman to make her own reproductive choices has been constitutionally protected for decades, which has meant healthier women and families, and an end to dangerous and unsanitary unlicensed abortions. This law’s supporters deceptively claim the restrictions are necessary to protect the health of women, but by shutting down clinics across the state, it would have the exact opposite effect. I hope the Supreme Court will see this threat for what it is: an attempt to circumvent the constitutional right to choose and put women’s health at risk. This is also just the latest evidence of why we need legislation like the Women’s Health Protection Act to put an end to burdensome regulations that have been implemented by states throughout the country.”

Earlier this year, on the 42nd anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, Rep. Chu was joined by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Representatives Marcia Fudge (D-OH) and Lois Frankel (D-FL) to re-introduce the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2015. The Women’s Health Protection Act would protect a woman’s right and ability to determine whether and when to bear a child by limiting restrictions on the provision of abortion services—such as those in place in states including Texas. It would prohibit laws that impose burdensome requirements on access to reproductive health services like requiring doctors to perform tests and procedures that doctors themselves have deemed unnecessary, or preventing doctors from prescribing and dispensing medication as is medically appropriate. Supporters of the bill argue that these restrictions are unnecessary, extreme measures that do not significantly advance women’s health or the safety of abortion services. Instead, they aim to make abortion services more difficult to access.