Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act of 2026

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Priority— In selecting the recipients of grants under this section, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities that—

Definitions— In this section:

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.