Bill would limit federal relocations to states with abortion restrictions

Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-Va., and 26 other House Democrats introduced legislation Wednesday aimed at protecting federal workers’ reproductive rights in the wake of the balkanization of abortion rights across the United States.

Since the Supreme Court issued Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the abortion rights spelled out in Roe v. Wade, in 2022, 13 states have enacted—or revived long-dormant—bans on abortion, while another six have restricted the procedure to between the first six to 12 weeks of gestation.

The Federal Workforce Reproductive Rights Protection Act would bar agencies from relocating their headquarters or at least 5% of their employees to states that have erected or re-implemented abortion restrictions in the last four years. It also would ban the purchase or new leasing of property in the state—only lease renewals for existing or entirely in-person public-serving facilities would be exempt.

The bill also would grant federal employees the chance to opt out of details, relocations or reassignments to states that have restricted or banned abortion; similarly, agencies would not be able to condition a job or promotion on the applicants’ living in or moving to those jurisdictions. The proposal also would bar the government from asking federal workers and job applicants abortion-related questions as part of the security clearance process and bans retaliation against employees and jobseekers who avail themselves of the bill’s protections.

And feds living in states that have restricted abortion would be eligible for both paid administrative leave and transportation allowances to help defray the costs of traveling to a jurisdiction to receive reproductive health care. Shortly after Dobbs was issued in 2022, the Biden administration similarly authorized paid leave for abortion-related travel, albeit under the category of paid sick leave.

In a statement Wednesday, Walkinshaw said that federal workers should not be forced to choose between their career and obtaining reproductive health care.

“Federal workers serve this country in every state and territory, and they deserve to know their employer will protect their health, privacy, and family,” Walkinshaw said. “Since Dobbs, millions of Americans have been forced to navigate a dangerous patchwork of state abortion bans and restrictions. For federal employees, who can be ordered to relocate or accept assignments across the country, that threat is especially real. This bill protects public servants from being punished, pushed out or put at risk because they need lawful reproductive health care.”