Senate Democrats have proposed a new bill to use millions of dollars in federal funds to train healthcare workers to become abortionists.
The bill, “The Reproductive Health Care Training Act,” was introduced on Thursday by Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Patty Murray (D-WA) and would allot $25 million for a grant program to train health care workers how to perform abortions.
According to a press release from Murray’s office, the bill would “help meet the current need for more women’s health care providers nationwide, especially in states that have abortion restrictions.”
In a statement, Baldwin said the funds Democrats are demmanding in the bill would help medical students and healthcare workers “being forced to travel out of state for training” to become abortionists, following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision.
“In order for women to exercise their right and freedom to control their bodies, doctors need the proper reproductive health care training,” Baldwin said.
“The Reproductive Health Care Training Act will bolster the pipeline of these needed doctors by easing the burden that out-of-state training presents and supporting the medical programs that are seeing an influx of individuals that need training,” Baldwin added.
The bill also states that the Secretary of Health and Human Services would create a program to award grants to eligible entities, such as accredited health professions schools, private or public nonprofit healthcare safety net providers, and academic health centers.
The funds would be awarded to expand education for students, residents, or advanced practice clinicians in states that permit abortion training and to “prepar[e] and encourag[e] each [trainee] in a covered state to serve as an abortion provider after completing such training.”
Under the bill, the grant program would prioritize awarding entities in pro-abortion states where “abortion care is permitted and/or comprehensively taught” and also states where abortion training is limited, “minority-serving institutions,” or “institutions that provide training to increase underrepresented minority health professions.”
The portion of the bill where it says “use of funds” specifies funding could be used to “support or expand clinical training” for abortions and to “develop and operate” abortion training programs.
The section also emphasizes how recipients of the award can use the funds to address “challenges to accessing abortion care, including the needs of racial and ethnic minority groups, people with disabilities, Tribal and medically underserved communities.”
Award recipients would also be able to integrate abortion training into healthcare education and nurture partnerships with community health organizations to “enhance access to abortion care.”
It also states that funds can be used to boost retention rates of abortionists who work in medically underserved communities.
Further, the grant can be used to provide scholarships or stipends to healthcare students, advanced practice clinicians, and residents pursuing abortion training “with a focus on medically underserved communities.”
Senators Baldwin and Murray’s legislation is co-sponsored the following:
Sens. Deb Stabenow (D-MI)
Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NM)
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ)
READ: Over 32,000 Babies Given the Chance to Live since Roe v Wade Overturned
