Today, January 24, Representative Sharice Davids voted against a harmful bill that would criminalize reproductive health care providers and jeopardize access to life-saving care — particularly for patients needing abortion care in dire circumstances. Davids criticized House leadership for prioritizing restrictive attacks on reproductive rights, which Kansans overwhelmingly rejected, instead of focusing on lowering costs for hardworking Kansas families.
“Today’s bill is another extreme attempt to inject politics into personal health care decisions, jeopardizing life-saving care and threatening providers with unnecessary criminal penalties,” said Davids. “It’s disappointing that House leadership has chosen to make attacking reproductive rights one of their first priorities this year over lowering costs and addressing issues that matter to Kansas families. Kansans have made it clear they support reproductive freedom, and I’ll keep fighting against harmful legislation that limits patients’ ability to make their own health care decisions.”
Today’s extreme legislation interferes with the patient-provider relationship by imposing criminal penalties on providers, undermining health care professionals’ expertise and patients’ freedoms. It targets practices that are already illegal and extremely rare, ultimately serving as a distraction from its true aim: restricting reproductive rights. Doctors are already bound by their oath to do no harm and are obligated to provide appropriate medical care. Ultimately, Davids firmly believes that personal health care decisions should remain between a patient and their doctor, free from political interference.
Davids, a proud member of the Congressional Reproductive Freedom Caucus, has been a champion for increased access to reproductive and sexual health care. Last year, she offered the official motion to prevent a vote on a restrictive reproductive health care bill and voted twice to protect access to choice. She also introduced legislation to increase access to birth control and other reproductive health care services and joined 240 Members of Congress to file an amicus brief to keep mifepristone, a safe and effective medication used by millions of women, on the market.
This bill is opposed by many medical organizations, including: the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Academy of Nursing, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American College of Nurse-Midwives, American College of Physicians, American Gynecological & Obstetrical Society, American Psychiatric Association, American Public Health Association, American Society for Reproductive Medicine, American Society of Hematology, Council of Chairs of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Infectious Diseases Society for Obstetrics and Gynecology, National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health, North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, Physicians for Reproductive Health, Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and Society of Family Planning.
