May 22, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 86 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session
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WOMEN'S ACCESS TO ESSENTIAL HEALTHCARE SERVICES; Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 86
(House of Representatives - May 22, 2019)
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[Pages H4115-H4116] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] WOMEN'S ACCESS TO ESSENTIAL HEALTHCARE SERVICES The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2019, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Porter) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. Ms. PORTER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to discuss women's access to essential healthcare services. I am the mother of three beautiful children. When I gave birth to my first child, to my second child, and to my third child, I was given the time and opportunity to plan for these pregnancies and welcome these children. I was privileged enough to have the ability to make an informed decision to become a mother at a time in my life when I was ready to care for children. Prior to having children, I had access to birth control. I received healthcare that helped me have three healthy pregnancies and helped me to be able to get pregnant when I was ready. But too many women in this country don't have these choices. Across the world, maternal mortality rates are decreasing. Pregnancy and birth are less dangerous across the globe, but not in the United States. While our country is a leader in so many ways, we are failing our Nation's women by not delivering the care they need during and after they give birth. Too many women don't have access to prenatal and postnatal care. Too many women already don't have access to birth control or abortion services, and if we do not fight back, this crisis is only going to get worse. If we do not fight back, women are going to die. The bills currently passing at the State level will not stop abortion. Overturning Roe v. Wade will not stop abortion. These acts will only stop safe abortion. Research has found that every year approximately 25.1 million women receive an unsafe abortion, and 68,000 women die annually of bleeding and infection, almost entirely in countries where abortion is illegal or inaccessible. If we continue down this road, women will die. The laws being passed in Alabama, Missouri, and Georgia are not pro-life. They are not protecting the lives of women and families that we were elected to serve. Alabama has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country, but instead of focusing on ensuring that women have access to the healthcare services they need when they choose to have a pregnancy, the State is choosing to punish those who do not become mothers. {time} 1815 Alabama State legislature has said that they just simply don't have the funds to expand Medicaid to cover more low-income women, families, and other individuals. Yet they have the millions of dollars necessary to fight a legal battle to overturn Roe v. Wade. These laws are anti- choice, anti-women, and anti-life. In the Alabama bill, the penalty for aborting a pregnancy caused by rape is higher than the penalty for raping a woman. Let me say it again: in the Alabama law, the penalty for aborting a pregnancy caused by rape is higher than the penalty for committing the rape. This is not the country we want to be. How is that upholding our values? Let's also note that women who have a miscarriage--a tragic event-- could be criminally investigated to determine if the miscarriage was related to an attempted abortion or was otherwise somehow the fault of the woman. According to March of Dimes, 10 to 15 percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage. Most miscarriages happen in the first trimester, before the 12th week of pregnancy, but nearly 5 percent of pregnancies that ended with miscarriages happened in the second trimester. As a mother I cannot imagine the pain of losing a child in the first, second, or even third trimester. For those who choose to get pregnant, this loss is devastating. Imagine you and your partner try for years to get pregnant. You can't afford expensive treatments like IVF because they are not covered under your insurance. You desperately want to be a mother, but nothing seems to be working. Finally, after 3 years, you take a home pregnancy test, and you find out you are pregnant. A short trip to the doctor confirms this incredible and exciting news. You and your partner are overjoyed. But 5 months later you start bleeding and rush to the emergency room. More than halfway through your pregnancy, you have miscarried and will now have to deliver a stillborn child. You and your partner are heartbroken. Imagine that a few days after this tragic loss you find out that you and your doctor are both being investigated for attempting to abort the child whose death you are still mourning. This is cruel and inhumane. These bills are not intended to stop abortion, and they will not stop abortion. They are not intended to save lives, and, in fact, these bills will take lives. This is the proof. If we really want to reduce the number of abortions in this country, we must ensure safe access to women's healthcare, including birth control and comprehensive family planning options. I want women in Alabama, in Georgia, in Missouri, and in every State across the country that has passed or is attempting to pass legislation to challenge Roe v. Wade to know that I stand with them. I want women in Orange County to know that they elected someone who will fight for their access to essential healthcare services. I want women in California and across the country to trust that my colleagues and I will fight for women [[Page H4116]] to have the healthcare and the respect that they need and deserve regardless of their income, race, or location. Protecting women's access to healthcare is one of my top priorities, and I will fight to ensure that every woman has the access they need to live a healthy life on their own terms. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. Omar). Ms. OMAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to defy the horrifying attacks happening against women's reproductive rights all across this country. Religious fundamentalists are currently trying to manipulate the State laws in order to impose their beliefs on an entire society, all with complete disregard for voices and the rights of American women. The recent efforts like those in Alabama and Georgia are only the latest in a long history of efforts to criminalize women for simply existing and to punish us when we don't conform to their attempts to control us. And a new proposal in Texas would go as far as to threaten women who obtain an abortion with capital punishment. If that were being proposed by any other country, we would be calling it a dangerous violation of human rights. But because it is happening here with the support of the ultraconservative religious right, we call it religious freedom. It is simply unthinkable. But this anti-choice movement isn't only unjust, it is dangerous because history has proven that when abortion is criminalized, the number of abortions do not simply go down. The number of deaths and injuries to women increase. Let's just be honest. For the religious right, this isn't simply about their care or concern for life. If they cared about or were concerned about children, then they would be concerned about the children who are being detained and those who are dying in camps across our borders or the children who are languishing in hunger and facing homelessness. This isn't about religious morality or conviction, because we have seen time and time again those who talk about their faith and want to push policies because of their faith are the ones who simply are caught with the hypocrisy of not living it out in their personal lives. I just remember recently, not too long ago, a Republican Congressman who had to retire, Tim Murphy, because he asked his mistress to abort their baby while pushing for a ban on abortion. Or I remember the anti- LGBT rights Republican, Larry Craig, who was found soliciting sex in a bathroom in a Minneapolis airport. I am frustrated every single time I hear people speaking about their faith and pushing that on to other people, because we know those so- called religious politicians, when it comes to their life and their choices, they want to talk about freedom, but when it comes to other people's lives and other people's choices, then they want to talk about religion. I feel that we must point out how ironic it is that women now are facing these challenges to their freedom in the week that we are marking the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. How can it be that an entire century has passed, and we are still forced to fight for our rights as women, as human beings, and as Americans? This should outrage every single person. It certainly outrages me, and we can no longer stand for it. So today I ask every woman in this country no matter her age, her race, or her political affiliation to stand with me--to stand with us-- to stand up and tell those who challenge our voice, our place, and our right to decide for ourselves to not be silent, to speak up and to reclaim their right to choose. Ms. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Omar for her remarks, and I yield back the balance of my time. ____________________
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