Republican Sen. James Lankford Blocks Democrats’ Travel for Abortion Bill

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) on Thursday blocked a bill proposed by Democrats seeking unanimous consent to prevent pro-life states from restricting women from interstate travel to obtain an abortion.

Democrats proposed the “Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act of 2022” (pdf) legislation in response to, in some cases, the introduction of bills in some state legislatures, and in other cases, some draft bills proposed to lawmakers by special interest groups.

Lankford’s office said in a release that the Democrats’ bill promoted traveling across state lines to obtain an abortion. Standing up to object to the proposed bill, Lankford poured water on some of the Democrats’ claims.

“To be very clear: no state has banned interstate travel for adult women seeking to obtain an abortion. No state has done that,” Lankford said on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

Lankford called the bill “misinformation” and said it was another effort “to inflame” and raise “the what-ifs.”

In bringing the bill to the Senate, Democrats cited reports in the Washington Post about Republican state legislators pursuing bills that would limit women from traveling interstate to access abortions.

Dismissing those concerns, Lankford noted that there are thousands of bills filed in the Senate, “and how many of them are actually going to move?” he asked.

“Now, am I confident there are some people that are out there talking? Yes,” he said, going on to note that those measures would protect females being trafficked.

“So, while there’s conversation about how to put a piece of legislation out that may very well protect individuals that are being trafficked to go to other states to get an abortion or all kinds of other issues that are there,” he said, “I come back to the most basic thing—there is a child in this conversation, and maybe this body should pay attention