To a US Senator: support the Women's Health Protection Act

Personalize. If you have personal experience that bears on this issue — your own care, a family member’s care, the closure of a clinic where you live — naming it can be powerful. Letters from people who have lived in the access gap carry particular weight.

Dear Senator [Last Name],

I’m writing as a constituent in [city/town] to ask you to support the Women’s Health Protection Act and to advance it for floor consideration in the current session.

The 2022 Dobbs ruling overturned Roe v. Wade after 49 years of constitutional protection for abortion access. The result is a fragmented two-tier system in which abortion is regulated state by state. Roughly 14 states have enacted near-total bans. Travel for abortion across state lines has increased substantially. The patchwork is not stable; access is moving in real time, in both directions, in ways that depend on where someone happens to live or travel.

The Women’s Health Protection Act would codify federal statutory protection for abortion access through fetal viability — restoring the standard that operated under Roe v. Wade. Specific provisions:

1. Federal right to provide and to receive abortion care through fetal viability, with later-term access where medical necessity requires.
2. Preemption of state-level bans that conflict with the federal protection.
3. Provider protections against unduly burdensome regulations targeting abortion clinics specifically.
4. Privacy protections for patients, providers, and supporters of patients seeking care.

The political case for federal codification has strengthened since Dobbs. Ballot measures protecting abortion access have passed in red and purple states (Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Vermont, California, Kentucky, Arizona, Missouri, others). Polling shows large majorities, including in many states whose legislatures have enacted bans.

The Senate procedural fight has been the binding constraint. Each time the bill has had floor votes, it has produced position-clarifying votes from undecided senators. I’m asking you to support the bill on the merits and to support whatever procedural movement is required to bring it to a meaningful vote.

[Personalize: connect to a specific concern if applicable. Examples: “I’m a [healthcare provider/patient] who has experienced [specific situation]”; “Our [clinic/community] has been affected by [closure/travel pattern]”; “My [family member/friend] needed care and faced [specific barrier]”. Privacy-respecting framings are also fine: “I want our state’s residents to have access without traveling out of state”.]

I’d appreciate knowing your position. If you have voted for the WHPA in prior sessions, thanks are appropriate but the substantive advocacy now is for floor consideration that produces enactment.

Thank you for representing our state.

Sincerely,

[Your name] [Your address]