February 25, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 34 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session
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EXECUTIVE CALENDAR; Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 34
(Senate - February 25, 2019)
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[Page S1423] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] EXECUTIVE CALENDAR The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the nomination. The senior assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of Eric D. Miller, of Washington, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington. Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. S. 311 Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am on the floor to talk about a vote that simply should not have taken place this evening. It was a vote on yet another attack from our Republican colleagues on women's health and their right to access safe, legal abortions--this time in the form of an anti-doctor, anti-woman, anti-family piece of legislation that medical experts strongly oppose. Republicans have spread a lot of misinformation about this bill, so let's be clear what it is not about and what it is actually about. This bill is not about protecting infants, as Republicans have claimed, because that is not up for debate, and it is already the law. This bill is also not at all about ensuring that appropriate medical care is delivered, because it would make it harder for healthcare providers to provide high-quality medical care that their patients need and deserve. The leading nonpartisan organization of OB/GYNs in our country has said this bill should never become law. It calls it ``gross legislative interference into the practice of medicine'' and ``part of a larger attempt to deny women access to safe, legal, evidence-based abortion care.'' In fact, 17 top health and medical organizations wrote to Congress to insist that Democrats and Republicans vote this bill down. Since this bill is not about infants or appropriate medical care, I am sure many people are wondering what exactly it is about. What would this bill really mean for women and families and healthcare providers? If you are a woman, this bill would mean, if you were one of the very, very few women who needed an abortion late in your pregnancy, you could be legally required to accept inappropriate, medically unnecessary care--care that may directly conflict with your wishes at a deeply personal, often incredibly painful moment in your life--because politicians in Washington decided their beliefs mattered more than yours. If you are a medical provider, this bill would supersede your years of medical training and your oath to deliver the best possible medical treatment to your patients. It would apply a one-size-fits-all set of requirements that does not reflect the reality that every pregnancy is different, and it would subject you to criminal penalties if you were to choose to let medical standards, not politics, drive the care you offer to your patients. For families who struggle with the painful reality that the children they had hoped for could not survive, as is tragically the case in many of the cases we are discussing, this legislation would take precedence over families' wishes as they grieve. This bill is government interference in women's healthcare, in families' lives, and in medicine on steroids. As I said, it is anti- doctor, anti-woman, and anti-family. It has no place in becoming law. Its proponents claim it would make something illegal that is already illegal. So why are we debating this legislation that would take women backward when there are so many ways we should be advancing medicine, improving women's healthcare, and supporting families? As far as I can tell, it is because this bill is about something that Republicans care about more than almost any other priority; that, unfortunately, is the rolling back of women's constitutionally protected rights and trying to take us back in time before the Roe v. Wade decision. Since day No. 1 of the Trump-Pence administration, this party has pulled every possible stop to appeal to its extreme anti-abortion base. Just last week, the Trump-Pence administration put forward a rule that would prevent healthcare providers at clinics that are funded through the title X family planning program from so much as informing patients about where to get an abortion even if that patient directly asks them for advice. This rule means trusted medical providers across the country may not be able to serve women and men who rely on them for contraception, cancer screenings, and more--all because Republicans are determined to make abortion impossible in the United States. That is just one of many examples. To recap, this bill is completely unnecessary. It is harmful to women and families, and it would criminalize doctors. It is intended to do nothing except to help Republicans advance their goal of denying women their constitutionally protected rights. I am against it in the strongest terms. Everybody who cares about women, families, and doctors and about upholding the Constitution should be too, so I am glad the Senate voted tonight to stop this anti-doctor, anti-woman, anti-family bill from going a single step further. The next time Republicans want to have a conversation about protecting infants and children, I am happy to talk about the babies and children who have been separated from their parents at the border or about improving access to early childhood education or about making sure coverage for maternal healthcare and preexisting conditions is not taken away. These are problems that do exist and that do need to be solved, and we are just as ready and willing to work on those as we are to stand up and say ``absolutely not'' to this harmful bill.
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