U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) introduced the Reproductive Health Care Accessibility Act to help ensure women with disabilities—who face discrimination and extra barriers when seeking care—can access reproductive services and get the informed care they need to have control over their own reproductive lives.
While women with disabilities have long faced discrimination and barriers to having full access to health care, the Dobbs decision has made it much more difficult for women with disabilities to get the informed reproductive health care they need. Right now, the roughly one in four adults with a disability are less likely to receive contraception counseling and timely prenatal care, are at greater risks for adverse pregnancy outcomes, and all too often lack access to accessible health care facilities and face a dearth of providers trained on the unique and diverse needs of people with disabilities.
“Every single American deserves to have control over their own body, life, and future—and that, of course, includes Americans with disabilities. But people with disabilities have long faced discrimination and truly unacceptable roadblocks to getting the reproductive care they need—and Republicans’ nonstop attacks on our rights have made matters so much worse,” said Senator Murray. “Our legislation will help ensure people with disabilities can access reproductive care that meets their needs.”
“For too long, Americans with disabilities have faced persistent barriers to healthcare services, equipment and providers—and with right-wing efforts underway to go even further to undermine these rights in the wake of the overturning of Roe—many are rightfully worried about having an even harder time accessing the reproductive care they need,” said Senator Duckworth.“Today, I’m proud to join Senator Murray and colleagues in introducing the Reproductive Healthcare Accessibility Act to help ensure those in the disability community—all 61 million of us—are not left behind in getting the care we need, when we need it.”
The Reproductive Health Care Accessibility Act will eliminate barriers to sexual and reproductive health care for people with disabilities by:
- Providing grant funding to carry out training programs for existing health care professionals providing reproductive health care for people with disabilities;
- Providing funding to carry out education and training programs to recruit and train people with disabilities in the healthcare workforce;
- Providing grant funding to carry out sexual and reproductive health care education programs for people with disabilities;
- Establishing a new technical assistance center to provide recommendations and best practices regarding sexual and reproductive health care for people with disabilities; and
- Directing the Department of Health and Human Services to carry out a study to analyze reproductive health care for people with disabilities.
