Proposed legislation related to women's rights and women's healthcare: July 17, 2025 – August 22, 2025

H.R.4541 – EARLY Act Reauthorization of 2025. To reauthorize the Young Women’s Breast Health Education and Awareness Requires Learning Young Act of 2009.
Introduced July 17, 2025 by Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL). Cosponsored by three Republican representatives and six Democrats. Referred to Energy and Commerce the same day.
Note: The only Republican cosponsors were Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), and Diana Harshbarger (R-TN). Unbelievable, since Wasserman Schultz’s bill does not introduce new legislation, merely an extension to 2031 of a bill passed in 2009.

H.R.4543 – Medicaid Breast Cancer Access to Treatment Act. To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to require coverage for certain individual (sic) with breast or cervical cancer under the Medicaid program.
Introduced July 17, 2025 by Maxine Waters (D-CA). Cosponsored by 29 Democrats and no Republicans. Referred to Energy and Commerce the same day. Stuck in committee.

H.R.4545 – Medicare Breast Reconstruction Access and Information Act. To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to require the provision of certain information with respect to breast reconstruction surgery under the Medicare program.
Introduced July 17, 2025 by Maxine Waters (D-CA). Cosponsored by 29 Democrats and no Republicans. Referred to Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means the same day. Stuck in committee.

H.R.4611 – EACH Act of 2025 (Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance Act of 2025). To ensure affordable abortion coverage and care for every person.
Introduced on July 22, 2025 by Ayanna Pressley (D-MA). Cosponsored by 181 Democrats and zero Republicans. Referred to Committee on Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means and Natural Resources and Armed Services and Veterans’ Affairs and Judiciary, Oversight and Government Reform and Foreign Affairs – the same day.
Comments: Close to codification? Note that Pressley’s speech introducing this bill is available. One to watch!—Also, please read the full text. It’s clear that Pressley and those who worked with her on this bill know the law better than the Supreme Court does.

H.R.4639 – Infertility Treatment Affordability Act of 2025. To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide an income tax credit for the costs of infertility treatments.
Introduced July 23, 2025 by Mike Carey (R-OH). Cosponsored by Greg Landsman (D-OH), Eugene Vindman (D-VA), Laura Gillen (D-NY), and Max Miller (R-OH). Referred to Ways and Means the same day.
Comment: This appears to apply solely to married couples. In addition, it is more of a tax bill than “women’s health.”

H.Res.611 – Expressing the importance of accurate information for medical professionals treating pregnant women and their unborn children in the emergency department, and for informing the general public. This resolution (not a bill) seeks to differentiate between elective-induced abortion and treatment for ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage.
Introduced July 25, 2025 by Kat Cammack (R-FL). Cosponsored by five Republicans and no Democrats. Referred to Energy and Commerce the same day. [Remember that Energy and Commerce oversees not only fossil fuels and commerce, but health legislation as well.]
Comment: Although the six people standing behind this proposed House resolution are all anti-abortion, this resolution calls for recognition that ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages are not to be treated the same as abortion in states that prohibit abortion.
This should have been presented in the form of a bill.

S.2671 - Reproductive Rights Are Human Rights Act of 2025. To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to require a section on reproductive rights in the Annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
Introduced August 1, 2025 by Brian Schatz (D-HI). Cosponsored by seventeen Democrats and no Republicans. Referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations the same day. Stuck in committee.
Comment: The bill would require the U.S. Department of State’s annual Human Rights Report to include sections not only on reproductive rights, but also on LGBTQ+ rights. It’s a strongly worded piece of legislation, pointing to numerous binding treaties and documents that would require the U.S. to consider reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights as human rights.

H.R.4977 - Connected MOM Act (Connected Maternal Online Monitoring Act). To identify and address barriers to coverage of remote physiologic devices under State Medicaid programs to improve maternal and child health outcomes for pregnant and postpartum women.
Introduced August 15, 2025 by Lois Frankel (D-FL). Cosponsored by Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Kathy Castor (D-FL), and Julia Letlow (R-LA). Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce the same day.
Comment: While I generally like the addition of telehealth for people who have limited access to transportation (and that is one component of this bill), I worry about the “remote physiologic devices” for monitoring purposes. Intent may be good, but I believe the bill needs more language regarding data privacy. Not sure I want Big Brother monitoring anyone’s pregnancy or postpartum medical status.

August 16, 2025-August 22, 2025: No activity..

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