Caucus Initiatives
Policy Issues
Whether we are in the majority or minority, the Reproductive Freedom Caucus, formerly Pro-Choice Caucus, is constantly working to advance a reproductive freedom future with dozens of bills that safeguard your reproductive rights and access to care, protect your private health care data, and reaffirm U.S. commitment to global health and human rights worldwide, among other key issues. Read more about those initiatives here:
Abortion Rights
The right to abortion is a fundamental right—one that must be safeguarded in federal law. That is why the Reproductive Freedom Caucus is proud to endorse the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would codify the protections of Roe v. Wade and enshrine the national right to abortion into law.
The Reproductive Freedom Caucus endorses multiple pieces of abortion rights legislation, including the Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act, to protect the right to travel between states for reproductive health care; the STOP Comstock Act, to repeal parts of existing laws that anti-abortion extremists want to misapply to ban abortion; the reaffirmation of the right to lifesaving abortion care under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA); and the removal of the ratification deadline for the Equal Rights Amendment, to enshrine gender equity in the U.S. constitution.
Contraception Rights
You, and only you, have the right to decide whether, how, and when you become a parent. Every person deserves that right—and deserves to have their choice of the birth control method that works best for them, free from political interference. As the extreme GOP attacks on reproductive health care threaten contraception, our Caucus stands with 9 in 10 Americans and endorses the Right to Contraception Act. This bill would enshrine the right to contraception into federal law and protect all people who use it from attempts to restrict access to birth control.
Access to Abortion
In addition to protecting the right to abortion, true reproductive freedom means every person has access to the reproductive health care they need, regardless of income, insurance, or zip code. This requires decisive action to abolish harmful and discriminatory restrictions, such as the Hyde Amendment—a policy prohibiting all taxpayer funding for abortion care, blocking abortion care coverage for all those who rely on federal government-sponsored or subsidized health insurance. This predominantly impacts poor women and women of color. While Donald Trump and the GOP consistently push to codify the discriminatory Hyde Amendment, Democrats successfully kept it out of the House-passed spending bills multiple years running in previous Congresses. Now, we are working to eliminate it once and for all, which is why the Reproductive Freedom Caucus is proud to endorse the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH) Act, to help ensure everybody can access the full spectrum of health care, including abortion care, regardless of their income or the source of their insurance.
Other critical abortion access bills our Members are working to advance in the House include the Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act, to support those traveling to access care; the Health Care Providers Safety Act, to bolster clinic security; the MARCH Act, to expand access to abortion services for service members at the Department of Defense; the Access to Reproductive Care for Servicemembers Act, to protect service members who need to travel for abortion care; the Reproductive Freedom for Veterans Act, to protect veterans’ rights to receive abortion services at the Department of Veterans Affairs; the Abortion Care Awareness Act, to amplify medically accurate abortion information; and the Stop Anti-Abortion Disinformation Act, to crack down on anti-abortion so-called “crisis pregnancy centers,” which seek to prevent people from accessing, or even accessing information about, abortion care by spreading harmful disinformation.
Access to Family Planning
The vast majority of Americans has used one or more method of contraception in their lifetime—and the federal Title X program serves nearly 2.8 million people each year, ensuring access to high-quality family planning and sexual health care. Every person who needs it should be able to access the family planning support and birth control method that works best for them, which is why our Members are working to expand access to family planning, including birth control. The Reproductive Freedom Caucus is proud to endorse multiple bills that will help achieve this goal, including the Expanding Access to Family Planning Act, to reauthorize and increase investment in Title X; the Restoring Essential Health Care Act, to repeal the harmful “defund” Planned Parenthood provision in the GOP’s Big, Ugly Law; the Access to Birth Control Act, to stop intimidation and harassment of birth control users at pharmacies; and the Equal Access to Contraception for Veterans Act, to limit copayments for contraception for those utilizing VA health services.
Fertility Care Rights & Access
Every person should have the right to build their family if, when, and how they choose without facing baseless restrictions. Since the Dobbs decision, threats to the future of fertility services like assisted reproductive technology (ART), and particularly in vitro fertilization (IVF), have emerged nationwide. House Democrats stand by your right to IVF and are fighting to preserve your access to the fertility care methods that help thousands of Americans each year build their families.
That is why RFC Members have introduced multiple pieces of legislation aimed at improving access to care so every American who needs or wants it can access fertility services. These include the Access to Infertility Treatment and Care Act, to require coverage for treatment of infertility across insurance plans, from the marketplace and employer-sponsored insurance to TRICARE, VHA, and Medicaid; the Family Building FEHB Fairness Act, to ensure fertility care coverage for those using the federal employee health insurance program; and the Veteran Infertility Treatment Act, to improve fertility care access for veterans and their families.
Data Privacy
Your reproductive health care choices are nobody’s business but yours and your health care provider’s—and that information should never be publicized against your will or weaponized. We need to protect personal reproductive health data, including about abortion, which is why the Reproductive Freedom Caucus is proud to endorse the My Body, My Data Act to create a new national standard for protecting the privacy of personal reproductive and sexual health information and the Reproductive Data Privacy and Protection Act to prevent law enforcement surveillance of private reproductive health care data.
Global Health & Human Rights
Reproductive rights are human rights, and we are proud of the work Democrats in Congress are doing to advance those rights here in the U.S. and throughout the international community. The United States has historically been the leading provider of global health assistance in the world, and longstanding, ideologically motivated policies have a shameful history of harming that aid’s effectiveness and our leadership on the world stage. The Global Gag Rule—also known as the Mexico City Policy—has been in effect intermittently for decades, largely under Republican administrations. The version of the rule in place during the current administration prevents U.S. funds from going to any organizations that not only provide abortion care, but provide information on abortion care, even if U.S. funds are not spent on those services. This forced organizations receiving U.S. global health funding to choose between receiving U.S. resources and providing comprehensive reproductive health care in the best interest of their patients. On top of that, the Helms Amendment continues to bar all U.S. global health assistance from funding abortion care, even in countries where that care is legal. When in place, these policies contribute to a massive burden of unsafe abortions and maternal mortality in the countries they impact, counteracting our global health goals and the health and wellbeing of communities around the world.
While Donald Trump and extreme GOP legislators push to codify these and other policies, to curtail human rights and slash global health and family planning funding, the Reproductive Freedom Caucus is proud to stand with our Members in support of the Global Health, Empowerment, and Rights (HER) Act, to repeal the Global Gag rule; the Reproductive Rights are Human Rights Act, to collect critical data on the status of reproductive rights globally; the Greater Leadership Overseas for the Benefit of Equality (GLOBE) Act, to protect global LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights; and the Support UNFPA Funding Act, to reaffirm our nation’s commitment to the UN’s family planning agency and global gender equality.
Oversight & Accountability
From the start of this administration and this Congress, Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans have continued their systematic erosion of reproductive rights and health care access. The consequences have been severe. The Trump administration, with the support of Republican leadership in the House and Senate, has stripped protections for lifesaving abortions in medical emergencies, tried to shut down Planned Parenthood, slashed Medicaid, stolen reproductive health care from servicemembers and veterans, dismantled global health assistance, threatened clinic, patient, and provider safety, and even taken away safeguards around private health information. From the courts to committees to the cabinet, Republican leaders have weaponized every branch of government to advance an extreme anti-abortion agenda. While they work through the dead of night and attempt to keep the worst of their actions quiet, our Caucus is turning up the lights and volume. At every step, we are seeking accountability for the harm being caused and calling out attacks on our rights. Read more about those initiatives here:
Trump Administration Oversight
With each action taken, we are demanding answers from the President and his administration on behalf of the people. Our Members have sent official letters to the Secretaries of Health and Human Services, Justice, State, and Veterans Affairs, calling on agency leaders and Inspectors General to protect reproductive rights and roll back dangerous policy changes. RFC Members have also sent official comment letters, breaking down the harms of federal regulations that target reproductive health care, and have questioned cabinet officials during committee proceedings here in the House.
In addition to official channels, we continue to use every other tool at our disposal to call out this administration for their assault on reproductive rights and health care and shine a light on their actions. Our Members are raising their voices in their districts, in Washington, and online. They are holding site visits across the country, from Virginia to Texas, New Jersey to California, Pennsylvania to Washington to Colorado. They are holding press conferences, meetings, and roundtables, hearing from storytellers, and speaking out every single day in the media and on social media. No matter what happens, RFC and our Members have not stopped, and will never stop, exposing the truth and fighting for your rights.
Congressional Accountability
Here in the House, the Republican majority wasted no time attempting to codify their extreme anti-abortion priorities. At the very start of the 119th Congress, RFC Members took to the House floor to oppose the GOP Reproductive Health Care Surveillance Act, or so-called “Born-Alive” bill—a harmful bill that puts new, extreme criminal penalties on abortion providers, injects politicians into the patient-physician relationship, and undermines medical expertise with the intent to bully and scare.
Then came the One Big, Ugly Bill: the Republican majority followed Donald Trump’s marching orders and forced through cruel legislation eviscerating Medicaid, “defunding” Planned Parenthood, and eliminating millions of Americans’ access to routine care like birth control, cancer screenings, annual exams, and more essential services. From the Energy and Commerce Committee, to the Rules Committee, to the House floor, twice, RFC Members held the line against Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans’ Big, Ugly Bill and its targeted assault on reproductive health care. Our Members filed over 500 amendments, debated through the night in Committee and on the House floor, and stood with Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries as he spoke out against the bill for nearly nine hours, highlighting our fight for reproductive freedom. Finally, every single RFC Member and House Democrat voted unanimously against the bill—twice. As provisions from this dangerous law now make their way through the courts, we will continue to stand with Planned Parenthood and fight for your Medicaid coverage.
Even as Republicans refuse to address the reproductive health care crisis of their own creation, Democrats and RFC hold our own hearings and use our platforms to share your stories. As the majority forces through bills that aim to make that crisis worse and put providers and patients at greater risk, we hold the line during committee proceedings and on the House floor. And as budget bills are forced through that abdicate Congress’ responsibility to our constituents, we use every channel we have to demand answers from Republican leadership and introduce amendment after amendment after amendment that fights for the needs of the people. Whatever happens next in Congress, RFC Members will not back down from our fight or let this majority hide from the harm they are causing.
In the Courts
As critical reproductive rights cases come through our nation’s courts, RFC Members are active participants in the judicial process. Our Caucus led multiple amicus briefs to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court to urge our courts to protect access to the safe, effective abortion medication mifepristone, to emergency abortion care, and to Planned Parenthood. Our Members held emergency briefings and launched rapid responses as decisions came down, serving as sources of reliable information for their constituents on the immediate impacts of those decisions. And our leaders have shown up at the Court itself, adding their voices in protest and solidarity.