Brief

Baldwin introduces ‘right to travel’ bill to protect abortion access for Wisconsin women

By: Ruth Conniff - July 12, 2022 1:40 pm

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (Vaughn R. Larson | Wis. Dept. of Military Affairs)

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin joined Sens Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Patty Murray (D-WA) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) among other Senate Democrats on a bill to protect women’s constitutional right to travel across state lines to receive abortion care.

The Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act of 2022 “would make it crystal clear this it is illegal for states to limit travel for abortion services and would empower the U.S. Attorney General and impacted individuals to bring civil action against those who restrict a woman’s right to cross state lines to receive legal reproductive care,” according to Baldwin’s office.

“Republicans have taken Wisconsin women back to 1849, and it is Republicans who support political interference in personal health care decisions,” Baldwin said in a statement. “I’m supporting this legislation because it will protect not only women who travel for care, but the health care professionals who provide the care and those who assist with travel across state lines, including employers. We will protect womens’ constitutional freedom to travel and receive the legal reproductive care they want and need.”

Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson has downplayed the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, telling the Wall Street Journal, “It might be a little messy for some people, but abortion is not going away,” and adding that people would be able to still drive to Illinois for an abortion if Roe is overturned.

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Ruth Conniff

Ruth Conniff is Editor-in-chief of the Wisconsin Examiner. She formerly served as Editor-in-chief of The Progressive Magazine where she worked for many years from both Madison and Washington, DC. Shortly after Donald Trump took office she moved with her family to Oaxaca, Mexico, and covered U.S./Mexico relations, the migrant caravan, and Mexico’s efforts to grapple with Trump. Conniff is a frequent guest on MSNBC and has appeared on Good Morning America, Democracy Now!, Wisconsin Public Radio, CNN, Fox News and many other radio and television outlets. She has also written for The Nation, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times, among other publications. She graduated from Yale University in 1990, where she ran track and edited the campus magazine The New Journal. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin with her husband and three daughters.