Today, the Congressional Reproductive Freedom Caucus announced that Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) will serve as Co-Chair for the 120th Congress.  The Reproductive Freedom Caucus, formerly the Pro-Choice Caucus, is a coalition of members in the U.S. House of Representatives who are working to preserve, protect, and advance policies that ensure reproductive autonomy.

“I am proud join Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley to Co-Chair the Reproductive Freedom Caucus in Congress, and I am grateful to Congresswoman Diana DeGette, who has chaired the caucus since 2000, for her vision and leadership in the fight to ensure access to reproductive healthcare across the country,” said Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher.  “As a Texan, I am proud to be a part of a long tradition of Texas women leading the fight for reproductive freedom and justice for decades.  Today, Texans are subject to some of the cruelest and most restrictive abortion laws in the country, and I look forward to working with my colleagues from across our caucus and across the country to protect them and to protect the health, dignity, equality, and freedom of all Americans to make their own reproductive health care decisions.”

A long-time advocate for reproductive freedom, Congresswoman Fletcher has led several efforts in Congress to protect access to abortion.  She is the lead House sponsor of the bill to protect the right to travel between states to obtain reproductive healthcare, the Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act, which passed the House in the 117th Congress.  She is also the lead House sponsor of the bill to guarantee access to birth control, the Right to Contraception Act.

Congresswoman Fletcher and Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland (WA-10) introduced the Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act to establish a grant program to help ease the financial burden of women and families being forced to travel, sometimes long distances, to access abortion care.  She also introduced the Safeguarding Access to Full-Spectrum Education and (SAFE) Training for OBGYNs Act with Congresswoman Kelly Morrison (MN-03), Congresswoman Kim Schrier (WA-08), and Congressman Ami Bera, M.D. (CA-06), to establish a grant program providing funding for OB/GYN residency programs that train residents residing in states with abortion bans.

Congresswoman Fletcher also introduced the Protecting Reproductive Freedom Act, H.R. 2573, with Congressman Pat Ryan (NY-18) to reaffirm that the abortion pill was appropriately approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 

Each Congress, Congresswoman Fletcher has been an original cosponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act, H.R. 12, which establishes a federal right to abortion for all Americans across the United States. 

As efforts to undermine reproductive freedom have increased since the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, including the temporary suspension of in vitro fertilization procedures in Alabama, Congresswoman Fletcher has continued advocating for the legalization of abortion in all 50 states.