[Sosfbay-news] Fwd: [ProChoiceOrNoChoice] Full text of the Freedom of Choice Act

[Jim Stauffer]

------- Forwarded message -------
From: "Mona D'Astarte" <mdastarte at earthlink.net>
To: SVChoice <svchoice at yahoogroups.com>, "Pro Choice or No Choice"  
<prochoiceornochoice at yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [ProChoiceOrNoChoice] Full text of the Freedom of Choice Act
Date: Tue, 03 Jul 2007 16:29:28 -0700

Following is the bill entitled the Freedom of Choice Act
introduced by Sen. Boxer in the Senate and Rep. Nadler in
the House of Representatives.  Read it and then call or email your
senators and representatives to urge them to support it. To find
how to contact your senator or representative, go to:

www.senate.gov or
www.house.gov


110th CONGRESS

1st Session

S. 1173
To protect, consistent with Roe v. Wade, a woman's freedom to choose
to bear a child or terminate a pregnancy, and for other purposes.


IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

April 19, 2007
Mrs. BOXER (for herself, Mrs. MURRAY, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. BINGAMAN,
Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. SCHUMER, Mrs. CLINTON,
Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. BAUCUS, and Ms. CANTWELL) introduced
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


A BILL
To protect, consistent with Roe v. Wade, a woman's freedom to choose
to bear a child or terminate a pregnancy, 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 `Freedom of Choice Act'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:

(1) The United States was founded on core principles, such as liberty,
personal privacy, and equality, which ensure that individuals are free
to make their most intimate decisions without governmental interference
and discrimination.

(2) One of the most private and difficult decisions an individual makes
is whether to begin, prevent, continue, or terminate a pregnancy. Those
reproductive health decisions are best made by women, in consultation with
their loved ones and health care providers.

(3) In 1965, in Griswold v. Connecticut (381 U.S. 479), and in 1973, in
Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 113) and Doe v. Bolton (410 U.S. 179), the Supreme
Court recognized that the right to privacy protected by the Constitution
encompasses the right of every woman to weigh the personal, moral, and
religious considerations involved in deciding whether to begin, prevent,
continue, or terminate a pregnancy.

(4) The Roe v. Wade decision carefully balances the rights of women to make
important reproductive decisions with the State's interest in potential  
life.
Under Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the right to privacy protects a  
woman's
decision to choose to terminate her pregnancy prior to fetal viability,  
with
the State permitted to ban abortion after fetal viability except when  
necessary
to protect a woman's life or health.

(5) These decisions have protected the health and lives of women in the  
United
States. Prior to the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, an estimated 1,200,000  
women
each year were forced to resort to illegal abortions, despite the risk of
unsanitary conditions, incompetent treatment, infection, hemorrhage,  
disfiguration,
and death. Before Roe, it is estimated that thousands of women died  
annually in the
United States as a result of illegal abortions.

(6) In countries in which abortion remains illegal, the risk of maternal  
mortality
is high. According to the World Health Organization, of the approximately  
600,000
pregnancy-related deaths occurring annually around the world, 80,000 are  
associated
with unsafe abortions.

(7) The Roe v. Wade decision also expanded the opportunities for women to  
participate
equally in society. In 1992, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (505 U.S.  
833), the Supreme
Court observed that, `[t]he ability of women to participate equally in the  
economic and
social life of the Nation has been facilitated by their ability to control  
their
reproductive lives.'.

(8) Even though the Roe v. Wade decision has stood for more than 34 years,  
there are
increasing threats to reproductive health and freedom emerging from all  
branches and
levels of government. In 2006, South Dakota became the first State in more  
than 15
years to enact a ban on abortion in nearly all circumstances. Supporters  
of this ban
have admitted it is an attempt to directly challenge Roe in the courts.  
Other States
are considering similar bans.

(9) Further threatening Roe, the Supreme Court recently upheld the  
first-ever Federal
ban on an abortion procedure, which has no exception to protect a woman's  
health. The
majority decision in Gonzales v. Carhart (05-380, slip op. April 18, 2007)  
and
Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America fails to protect a  
woman's health,
a core tenet of Roe v. Wade. Dissenting in that case, Justice Ginsburg  
called the
majority's opinion `alarming', and stated that, `[f]or the first time  
since Roe, the
Court blesses a prohibition with no exception safeguarding a woman's  
health'. Further,
she said, the Federal ban `and the Court's defense of it cannot be  
understood as
anything other than an effort to chip away at a right declared again and  
again by
this Court'.

(10) Legal and practical barriers to the full range of reproductive  
services
endanger women's health and lives. Incremental restrictions on the right to
choose imposed by Congress and State legislatures have made access to  
reproductive
care extremely difficult, if not impossible, for many women across the  
country.
Currently, 87 percent of the counties in the United States have no  
abortion provider.

(11) While abortion should remain safe and legal, women should also have  
more
meaningful access to family planning services that prevent unintended  
pregnancies,
thereby reducing the need for abortion.

(12) To guarantee the protections of Roe v. Wade, Federal legislation is  
necessary.

(13) Although Congress may not create constitutional rights without  
amending the
Constitution, Congress may, where authorized by its enumerated powers and  
not
prohibited by the Constitution, enact legislation to create and secure  
statutory
rights in areas of legitimate national concern.

(14) Congress has the affirmative power under section 8 of article I of the
Constitution and section 5 of the 14th amendment to the Constitution to  
enact
legislation to facilitate interstate commerce and to prevent State  
interference
with interstate commerce, liberty, or equal protection of the laws.

(15) Federal protection of a woman's right to choose to prevent or  
terminate
a pregnancy falls within this affirmative power of Congress, in part,  
because--

(A) many women cross State lines to obtain abortions and many more would be
forced to do so absent a constitutional right or Federal protection;

(B) reproductive health clinics are commercial actors that regularly  
purchase
medicine, medical equipment, and other necessary supplies from out-of-State
suppliers; and

(C) reproductive health clinics employ doctors, nurses, and other personnel
who travel across State lines in order to provide reproductive health  
services
to patients.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:

(1) GOVERNMENT- The term `government' includes a branch, department,  
agency,
instrumentality, or official (or other individual acting under color of  
law)
of the United States, a State, or a subdivision of a State.

(2) STATE- The term `State' means each of the States, the District of  
Columbia,
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and each territory or possession of the  
United
States.

(3) VIABILITY- The term `viability' means that stage of pregnancy when, in  
the
best medical judgment of the attending physician based on the particular  
medical
facts of the case before the physician, there is a reasonable likelihood  
of the
sustained survival of the fetus outside of the woman.

SEC. 4. INTERFERENCE WITH REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PROHIBITED.

(a) Statement of Policy- It is the policy of the United States that every  
woman
has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child, to terminate a  
pregnancy
prior to fetal viability, or to terminate a pregnancy after fetal  
viability when
necessary to protect the life or health of the woman.

(b) Prohibition of Interference- A government may not--

(1) deny or interfere with a woman's right to choose--

(A) to bear a child;

(B) to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability; or

(C) to terminate a pregnancy after viability where termination is necessary
to protect the life or health of the woman; or

(2) discriminate against the exercise of the rights set forth in paragraph
(1) in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or  
information.

(c) Civil Action- An individual aggrieved by a violation of this section  
may
obtain appropriate relief (including relief against a government) in a  
civil action.

SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY.

If any provision of this Act, or the application of such provision to any  
person
or circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this  
Act, or
the application of such provision to persons or circumstances other than  
those
as to which the provision is held to be unconstitutional, shall not be  
affected
thereby.

SEC. 6. RETROACTIVE EFFECT.

This Act applies to every Federal, State, and local statute, ordinance,  
regulation,
administrative order, decision, policy, practice, or other action enacted,  
adopted,
or implemented before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act.