AG HEALEY SUPPORTS THE RIGHT OF TEXAS RESIDENTS TO TRAVEL OUT OF STATE FOR ABORTION CARE
Multistate
Amicus Brief Argues Texas’ Abortion Laws Violate Individuals’ Constitutional
Right to Interstate Travel
BOSTON – Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey today
joined a multistate coalition of 21 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief
in support of the right of Texas residents, as well as those visiting the state
for school, work or vacation, to travel to other states to access or provide
safe and legal abortions.
The brief,
filed today Fund Texas Choice et al. v. Ken Paxon et al., argues that an
individual’s constitutional right to interstate travel is at risk due to Texas’
anti-abortion laws, and that interference with that right poses a substantial
threat to the liberty and safety of those individuals, some of whom may need to
leave the state under urgent circumstances. Texas’ laws not only deprive its
residents of access to the reproductive care they may need within Texas’
borders, but also, as Texas lawmakers have indicated, seek to impede an
individual’s ability to travel access state lines to obtain an abortion,
provide an abortion, or to support a patient in need of an abortion. The brief
argues that while Texas may regulate abortion within its borders, intruding on
the right to interstate travel, including for abortion, is illegal.
“Following
Dobbs, we made a commitment to ensure that patients from across the
country can access abortion and to protect providers offering that care,” AG
Healey said. “Interstate travel is a constitutional right and we
are going to do everything we can to protect access to critical health care.”
Fund
Texas Choice et al. v. Ken Paxton et al. was
filed by a group of reproductive health advocacy organizations – Fund Texas
Choice, Jane’s Due Process, the Lilith Fund for Reproductive Equity, Clinic
Access Support Network, The Afiya Center, West Fund, and OB-GYN Dr. Ghazaleh
Moayedi. Today’s brief supports the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary
injunction to block several of Texas’ anti-abortion laws. According to the
motion, Dr. Moayedi is seeking to travel out-of-state to provide abortion
services in states where abortions are legal, and the organizations are seeking
to support individuals in Texas seeking to travel out-of -state to
obtain reproductive care.
The brief
argues that while Texas may regulate abortion within its borders, intruding on
the right to interstate travel, including for abortion, is unlawful. The
coalition states have thousands of residents living in Texas to attend college
or graduate school, or for work, and millions of others visit the state each
year, and as such, the states want to ensure their residents can leave Texas
and return to their home states to access time-sensitive, legal and safe
medical care. As states that are committed to protecting access to reproductive
healthcare, the coalition states are also seeking to preserve the right to
travel for millions of individuals that live in states with restrictive
abortion laws like Texas’ and for whom travel to seek an abortion is critical.
In July,
the Massachusetts Legislature passed An Act Expanding Protections for
Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Care, which includes protections
for healthcare workers who provide abortion services to patients living outside
the state—both those who travel to Massachusetts for care, and those who
receive care in their home states from Massachusetts providers via
telemedicine.
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