How federal laws set the baseline for women’s health, safety, and access

Federal laws play a powerful role in shaping women’s rights in the United States. Even when enforcement and impact vary from place to place, these laws establish national standards that influence health, safety, and access across the country.

Some of these laws were written decades ago. Others have been updated or reinterpreted over time. Together, they form a patchwork of protections and obligations that continue to shape how rights function in everyday life — often in ways that are not immediately visible.

The sections below highlight several federal laws that continue to shape women’s health, safety, and access today — and why their design, enforcement, and interpretation matter.

A critical lens: law on the books vs. protection in practice

A law being “on the books” does not automatically mean it is protecting people in practice.

How federal laws function depends on factors beyond the text itself — including funding decisions, regulatory guidance, enforcement priorities, and the capacity of the agencies responsible for carrying them out. When these systems are weakened or inconsistent, rights can erode without a single law being repealed. The result may be a right that still exists in law, but offers uneven or unreliable protection in real life.

Title IX provides a clear example of this dynamic. Title IX remains federal law, but whether its protections are felt by students can depend on how complaints are handled, whether clear guidance is available, and whether accessible paths to accountability exist. When those supports are weak or inconsistent, protections may exist on paper without offering meaningful protection in practice.

The Comstock Act

The Comstock Act is a federal law passed in 1873. At the time, it was designed to block the mailing of materials considered “obscene,” including information and items related to contraception and abortion.

The law is named after Anthony Comstock, a 19th-century activist who believed the government should tightly control information about sex and reproduction. Comstock worked closely with the U.S. Postal Service and pushed for aggressive enforcement of the law, targeting reproductive health information and materials sent through the mail.

Much has changed since then—medicine, public health, and social norms among them. Over the years, court decisions and later laws limited how the Comstock Act could be applied—but the law has never been fully repealed.

That’s why it still comes up today. Even though it was written for a very different time, the Comstock Act remains part of federal law. Because of that, it is sometimes referenced in modern legal arguments, especially those around mailing abortion medication or related medical information.

The Comstock Act shows how old laws don’t always fade away on their own. When they stay on the books, they can create confusion—not because they reflect current medical practice, but because they were never fully removed.

EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act)

EMTALA is a federal law that requires hospitals with emergency departments to provide emergency medical care to anyone who needs it, regardless of their ability to pay.

For pregnant patients, this law can be lifesaving. EMTALA requires hospitals to treat and stabilize people experiencing medical emergencies—which can include serious pregnancy complications like heavy bleeding, infection, or other conditions that put health or life at risk.

Tension arises when state laws restrict certain types of pregnancy care. EMTALA establishes a federal expectation: in an emergency, hospitals must act to stabilize the patient. When delays in care increase the risk of harm, how this federal requirement interacts with state-level restrictions becomes critically important.

Title IX

Title IX is a federal civil rights law passed in 1972 that prohibits sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding.

Many people associate Title IX with athletics, but its reach is much broader. It shapes how schools respond to sexual harassment and assault, how they support pregnant and parenting students, and whether students have equal access to educational opportunities.

Over time, the way Title IX is interpreted and enforced has changed through updates to federal guidance and regulations. Those shifts can affect how protections show up in real school settings, even when the law itself hasn’t changed.

As a result, students’ experiences of Title IX protections can vary widely depending on institutional practices and enforcement capacity.

Title X

Title X is the only federal program focused specifically on family planning and preventive reproductive health care. It supports clinics that provide services like contraception, cancer screenings, and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. 

Title X does not fund abortion care. Still, changes to the program’s rules have influenced what information providers can share and whether clinics are able to participate at all.

Because Title X clinics often serve people with limited access to health care, changes to the program can affect access to basic preventive services—even when those services remain legal.

VAWA (Violence Against Women Act)

The Violence Against Women Act, first passed in 1994, addresses domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking.

VAWA provides funding for survivor services, legal assistance, prevention programs, and training for law enforcement and service providers. It has been reauthorized multiple times, with updates that expanded protections and addressed gaps — including for Native American women, LGBTQ+ survivors, and others who face higher risks of violence.

At its core, VAWA recognizes that safety is a rights issue. Access to protection and support shapes whether people can live, work, and participate fully in their communities.

Why these laws matter together

Each of these laws touches a different part of life—health care, education, safety—but they operate within the same federal system. They show how federal policy sets boundaries within which states, institutions, and systems operate. 

They also help explain why rights are rarely governed by a single law. Instead, they take shape through overlapping rules, interpretations, and enforcement decisions that evolve over time.

Understanding these laws isn’t about memorizing policy details. It’s about seeing the bigger picture—and recognizing how national rules affect real people in real situations.

The bottom line

Federal laws continue to shape women’s rights in the United States—often quietly, and often unevenly. Some expand protection and access. Others introduce complexity or uncertainty, especially when they intersect with state-level policies.

Knowing what these laws do — and how they are implemented — helps explain how rights are supported, challenged, and reshaped over time.