119-hr4265

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4265 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 4265

 To authorize grants to eligible entities to pay for travel-related 
 expenses and logistical support for individuals with respect to 
 accessing abortion services, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 June 30, 2025

 Ms. Strickland (for herself, Mrs. Fletcher, Mr. Smith of Washington, 
 Mr. Pocan, Mr. Cleaver, Ms. Titus, Ms. Crockett, Mr. Panetta, Ms. 
Kamlager-Dove, Ms. Sanchez, Mr. Casten, Ms. McClellan, Ms. DelBene, and 
Mrs. Ramirez) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To authorize grants to eligible entities to pay for travel-related 
 expenses and logistical support for individuals with respect to 
 accessing abortion services, and for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act 
of 2025''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

 Congress finds as follows:

    (1) On June 24, 2022, in its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson 
 Women's Health Organization (142 S. Ct. 2228

    (2022) ) (referred 
 to in this section as the ``Dobbs decision''), the Supreme 
 Court overturned Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 113

    (1973) ), eliminating 
 the constitutional right to abortion and reversing decades of 
 precedent recognizing the constitutional right to an abortion.

    (2) While abortion has never been accessible to all even 
 under the framework of Roe v. Wade, the Dobbs decision has 
 decimated access for millions of people in the United States.

    (3) As expected, the impacts of the Dobbs decision have 
 fallen the hardest on people who already face barriers to 
 health care access due to systemic barriers and discrimination, 
 particularly Black people, Indigenous people, and other people 
 of color, people with disabilities, people in rural areas, 
 young people, people with documentation barriers, LGBTQ+ 
 people, people who are parenting, people with complex medical 
 needs who require hospital-based care, and people having 
 difficulty making ends meet.

    (4) Abortion bans prevent many people from accessing the 
 care they want and need.

    (5) People have always had abortions and always will, even 
 in the face of legal, financial, and logistical barriers, or 
 criminalization. However, since the Dobbs decision, many are 
 being forced to travel hundreds of miles away from their homes 
 and communities, taking extra time off of work, forgoing days 
 of pay, piecing together extended childcare, and finding ways 
 to cover significant travel expenses. Others are being forced 
 to carry their pregnancies to term.

    (6) Just months after the Dobbs decision, one-third of 
 women of reproductive age in the United States faced excessive 
 travel times for abortion. For residents of States that had 
 banned abortion, travel times increased by more than 4 hours on 
 average. Black women faced the greatest impact, with 40 percent 
 needing to drive at least 1 hour for abortion care after the 
 decision, versus 15 percent before the decision.

    (7) Abortion funds and practical support funds (referred to 
 in this section as ``abortion funds'' or ``funds'') are 
 community-based organizations that support people in overcoming 
 financial and logistical barriers to abortion care. In 2024, 
 abortion funds provided over $50,000,000 for abortion funding 
 and over $13,000,000 for logistical support.

    (8) Funds work together to remove financial and logistical 
 barriers to abortion access and have been doing this work for 
 decades. Funds help cover transportation, food, lodging, 
 childcare, translation support, doula services, and other 
 supports abortion seekers and their families need.

    (9) Many funds are led by people who have had abortions 
 themselves, including a growing base of Black and Brown leaders 
 who have themselves faced abortion obstacles and understand the 
 complex circumstances individuals may face.

    (10) Abortion funds have a history of being under-resourced 
 and rely mostly on volunteer time and energy to support 
 communities.

    (11) Abortion and practical support funds hold some of the 
 closest ties to people who are having abortions and have the 
 first hand experience, up-to-date and on-the-ground knowledge, 
 and the regional and national connections needed to support 
 abortion seekers financially, emotionally, or logistically.

    (12) More and more States are seeking to ban abortion or 
 enact extreme restrictions, significantly limiting the 
 circumstances in which abortions are available. Furthermore, 
 people have been prevented from seeking care because of the 
 confusion created by new and changing abortion restrictions, 
 misinformation, disinformation, and muddled judicial decisions, 
 all of which have contributed to a chilling effect for people 
 seeking legal care out of State. People seeking abortions often 
 do not have a full understanding of the shifting legal 
 landscape, including abortion laws, in their State. People 
 calling abortion funds for support often ask if they are doing 
 something illegal by traveling to get care of the abortion laws 
 in their State and people calling abortion funds for support 
 often ask if they are doing something illegal by traveling to 
 get care. Abortion funds serve to mitigate this confusion and 
 directly connect people to accurate information.

    (13) Following the Dobbs decision, the demand for abortions 
 has surged, with requests increasing by 56 percent from 2023 to 
 2024. During the same period, the number of abortion seekers 
 supported by abortion funds grew by 33 percent. Despite immense 
 efforts from abortion funds from 2022 to 2024, the number of 
 callers who received support decreased from 70 percent to 54 
 percent. This is due to escalating costs of abortion care and 
 practical support, as well as inadequate funding to meet the 
 post-Dobbs demand.

    (14) Clinics in States where abortion is legal and more 
 accessible continue to receive an influx of people seeking 
 abortions.

    (15) When people are not able to access an abortion when 
 they need it, they may be forced to seek an abortion later into 
 their pregnancy. This increases costs exponentially. Barriers 
 to abortion care after the Dobbs decision have led to an 
 increasing complexity in the cases that abortion funds are 
 managing. People who are forced to cross State lines for 
 abortion care may need increased financial support for 
 coordinating and paying for higher logistical barriers (such as 
 transportation, lodging, meals, childcare, medication) to 
 access the abortion care they want, need, and deserve. For 
 many, the increased financial burden will push abortion care 
 completely out of reach without financial and logistical 
 assistance for appointment costs and travel.

SEC. 3. GRANTS TO PAY FOR TRAVEL EXPENSES AND LOGISTICAL SUPPORT FOR 
 INDIVIDUALS ACCESSING ABORTION SERVICES.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in this 
section as the ``Secretary'') may award grants to eligible entities to 
pay for travel-related expenses and logistical support for individuals 
with respect to accessing abortion services.

    (b) Timing.--Beginning not later than 30 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall solicit applications for 
grants under this section.
            (c) Use of Funds.--

    (1) Permissible uses.--An eligible entity receiving a grant 
 under this section shall use the grant for travel-related 
 expenses and logistical support for individuals with respect to 
 accessing abortion services, which may include any of the 
 following expenses and support:
        (A) Round trip travel to the location where the 
 abortion services are provided.
        (B) Lodging.
            (C) Meals.
            (D) Childcare.
        (E) Translation services.
        (F) Doula care.
        (G) Patient education and information services.
        (H) Lost wages.

    (2) Organizational costs.--An eligible entity receiving a 
 grant under this section may use up to, but not more than, 15 
 percent of the grant funds to cover organizational costs such 
 as--
        (A) community outreach efforts;
        (B) physical infrastructure construction and 
 maintenance;
            (C) website development and maintenance; and
            (D) increasing staff capacity and training.

    (3) Impermissible uses.--An eligible entity receiving a 
 grant under this section shall not use the grant for costs of 
 an abortion procedure.
            (d) Applications.--To seek a grant under this section, an eligible 
entity shall submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in 
such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary 
determines appropriate.

    (e) Priority.--In selecting the recipients of grants under this 
section, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities that--

    (1) serve individuals who live in a jurisdiction that has 
 banned or severely restricted access to abortion;

    (2) serve individuals who travel to a jurisdiction other 
 than the one where they live to be provided abortion services; 
 or

    (3) have a program in operation, or submit as part of the 
 application required under subsection
            (d) a plan to establish 
 and operate a program, to help individuals access abortion 
 services.

    (f) Annual Reports to Congress.--

    (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
 enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary 
 shall submit to Congress a report on the program under this 
 section.

    (2) Confidentiality.--The reports under paragraph

    (1) shall 
 not include any individually identifiable information.

    (g) Preemption.--

    (1) In general.--The provisions of this section shall 
 supersede any provision of State, Tribal, territorial, or local 
 law that would have the effect of prohibiting any use of funds 
 provided for under this section.

    (2) Prohibition on federal cooperation in antiabortion 
 proceedings.--No Federal agency or official engaged in carrying 
 out the program under this section may cooperate with any 
 State, Tribal, territorial, or local antiabortion proceeding, 
 including any antiabortion investigation, prosecution, or civil 
 lawsuit, relating to the activities carried out under such 
 program or any individual or entity receiving or providing 
 services under such program.

    (h) 

=== Definitions. ===
-In this section:

    (1) The term ``eligible entity''--
        (A) means a nonprofit organization, or a community-
 based organization, that assists individuals seeking an 
 abortion through programs, services, or activities that 
 are unbiased and medically and factually accurate; and
        (B) excludes any entity that discourages 
 individuals from seeking an abortion.

    (2) The term ``nonprofit organization'' means an 
 organization that--
        (A) is described in subsection
            (c) (3) of 

section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; and
        (B) is, under subsection

    (a) of such section, 
 exempt from taxation.
            (i) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section, 
there is authorized to be appropriated $350,000,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2026 through 2030.
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