Reproductive Health Equity Act

Concerning the codification of a person’s fundamental right to make reproductive health-care decisions free from government interference.

SESSION:

2022 Regular Session

SUBJECT:

Health Care & Health InsuranceBILL SUMMARY

The act declares that every individual has a fundamental right to use or refuse contraception; every pregnant individual has a fundamental right to continue the pregnancy and give birth or to have an abortion; and a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent or derivative rights under the laws of the state.

The act prohibits state and local public entities from:

Denying, restricting, interfering with, or discriminating against an individual’s fundamental right to use or refuse contraception or to continue a pregnancy and give birth or to have an abortion in the regulation or provision of benefits, services, information, or facilities; and
Depriving, through prosecution, punishment, or other means, an individual of the individual’s right to act or refrain from acting during the individual’s own pregnancy based on the potential, actual, or perceived impact on the pregnancy, the pregnancy’s outcomes, or on the pregnant individual’s health.
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)