text: In May 2012, Paul was one of only seven Republicans to vote against a bill which, if passed, would have made performing or pressuring a woman into having a sex-selective abortion, or transporting a woman into the country or across state lines for the purpose of undergoing such an abortion, a federal crime, punishable by up to 5 years in prison. The bill would also have subjected nurses and other healthcare workers to fines and possible imprisonment for failing to report suspected violations of the law. Paul explained that although he found the very thought of sex-selective abortions revolting, he could not support the measure because it would be unconstitutional and would create "yet another set of federal criminal laws, even though the Constitution lists only three federal crimes: piracy, treason, and counterfeiting." He urged advocates of abortion bans to seek instead to repeal Roe v. Wade and allow abortion regulation to be handled at the state level.
  Contraception
  Paul says that government, especially at the federal level, should not be involved in medical matters, including contraception.
  He has proposed legislation to block federal funding of any family planning activity, which would include contraception; and in July 2011, when asked how he would work as president to provide contraceptive services for Americans who have no health insurance, he vowed to block all government payments for contraception: "Whether it's buying a loaf of bread or getting a birth control pill, in a free country, that's your responsibility."
  Paul has asserted that a right to privacy in the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution protects the use of contraceptives and that the Interstate Commerce Clause protects the sale of contraceptives.
  However, legislation which Paul has repeatedly introduced into Congress [see the We the People Act] has been criticized for potentially freeing states to ban the prescription or use of contraception, by stripping the federal courts and the Supreme Court of the authority to rule on the constitutionality of such bans.