Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act of 2026

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4922 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4922

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 24, 2026

  Ms. Baldwin (for herself, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Padilla, Ms. Hirono, Mr.
  Blumenthal, Mr. Merkley, and Mr. Sanders) introduced the following
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health,
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

  To authorize grants to eligible entities to pay for travel-related
    expenses and practical 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 2026''.

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)), reversing
        decades of precedent and eliminating the constitutional right
        to abortion.
            (2) Almost overnight, the Dobbs decision decimated the
        abortion access landscape for millions of people in the United
        States. Since the Dobbs decision, 13 States have effectively
        banned abortion and many more have severe restrictions in place
        that make care inaccessible.
            (3) Because of severe restrictions and bans on abortion,
        dozens of clinics have been forced to close or stop providing
        abortions. Thousands of people are forced to travel farther
        away from their homes, communities, and support networks, at
        great risk to their health and well-being. Others are not able
        to get an abortion at all and have been forced to stay pregnant
        against their will.
            (4) The amount of time and distance abortion seekers must
        travel is increasing and becoming more difficult to overcome.
        Before the Dobbs decision, less than 1 percent of the United
        States population was more than 200 miles from a health care
        provider, and the average person was only 25 miles from a
        provider. After the Dobbs decision, 14 percent of the United
        States population is more than 200 miles from the nearest
        abortion provider, and the average person is 86 miles from a
        provider.
            (5) In 2025, 142,000 people traveled across State lines to
        obtain an abortion. This includes 62,000 people living in
        States with total bans, more than double the number who
        traveled from these States prior to the Dobbs decision. Because
        of the concentration of bans in the Southeast and Midwest, many
        people are traveling across multiple State lines, requiring
        hundreds of miles of travel each way.
            (6) The consequences of the Dobbs decision fall hardest on
        people who already face the most barriers to health care due to
        systemic barriers and discrimination, including Black people,
        Indigenous people, people of color, people with disabilities,
        people in rural areas, young people, people who are immigrants
        or undocumented, LGBTQ+ people, people who are parenting,
        people with complex medical needs who require hospital-based
        care, and people having difficulty making ends meet.
            (7) Longer travel times, combined with other immense
        barriers, increase the cost of transportation, food, lodging,
        and childcare, and increase the amount of lost wages. These
        barriers can also push abortion care later into pregnancy,
        increasing the cost of care. This heightened cost pushes
        abortion care out of reach for many people without financial
        and practical assistance.
            (8) The harm of being denied a wanted abortion is well
        researched and established. Being denied a wanted abortion
        means those individuals are more likely to experience poverty,
        have worse health outcomes, and are more likely to remain in
        abusive relationships.
            (9) Even before the Dobbs decision, abortion was extremely
        difficult to access because of medically unnecessary bans and
        restrictions, including arbitrary limits on when someone can
        get an abortion, how abortions can be provided, and bans on
        insurance coverage for abortions like the Hyde Amendment, among
        many others.
            (10) Abortion funds and practical support organizations (in
        this section referred to as ``abortion funds'') exist for this
        reason. Abortion funds are community-based organizations that
        directly support people seeking abortions. They provide a wide
        range of support, including funding for abortions and practical
        support such as transportation, food, lodging, childcare,
        translation services, doula services, and more. Abortion funds
        collaborate at the local, regional, national, and international
        levels to support people seeking abortions. Many abortion funds
        are led by people who have had abortions themselves and
        understand the complex circumstances abortion seekers face,
        including a growing number of Black and Brown leaders.
            (11) Since the Dobbs decision, as tens of thousands more
        abortion seekers are being forced to travel across State lines
        for their abortions each year, the cost of supporting abortion
        seekers has more than doubled. On average, abortion funds
        provide nearly $400 for each abortion seeker, with many
        abortion funds having to pool resources to get people the care
        they need.
            (12) Abortion funds are navigating an increasingly hostile
        landscape that is causing the costs of care to rise. Since the
        Dobbs decision, abortion funds have doubled the number of
        abortion seekers they support. In 2025 alone, abortion funds
        provided over $63,000,000 in funding for abortions, over
        $14,000,000 of that was for practical support.
            (13) Despite the efforts of abortion funds, thousands of
        people are still unable to get the resources they need to have
        their abortions. According to the National Network of Abortion
        Funds, in 2025, nearly one-third of the abortion funds in their
        network reported they have been forced to temporarily close,
        sometimes repeatedly, and were unable to meet the needs of
        large numbers of callers because of a lack of funding, legal
        shifts, staff capacity, burnout, and security concerns.
            (14) Abortion funds have been severely underresourced and
        underinvested in, despite being uniquely positioned to support
        abortion seekers, as they have been doing for decades. Many
        rely on volunteer time and individual donations to support
        abortion seekers and their communities.

SEC. 3. GRANTS TO PAY FOR TRAVEL EXPENSES AND PRACTICAL 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 practical 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 practical 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 receive 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 2027 through 2031.
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