Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, in just 10 days, funding for the government will expire. So we have just 10 days for the Senate and the House to come together and figure out a way to keep the government doors open.

We have been here before. In 2013--and I remember all too well, as I am sure all of the Members of this Chamber do--the impact of that shutdown. It was devastating. It resulted in economic confidence falling to its lowest level in several years. It took $24 billion out of our economy and cost us 120,000 private sector jobs. Yet at a time when we should be coming to the table to do our jobs to avoid a government shutdown, we are back again talking about limiting women's access to their own health care choices.

Once again, those who want to limit women's access to health care and take away our constitutionally protected rights are threatening to wreak havoc across the entire U.S. economy, just as they did in 2013.

This attack on women is not just at the Federal level; sadly, we are seeing it in New Hampshire as well. The New Hampshire Executive Council recently voted not to renew the State's contract with Planned Parenthood. That vote was totally out of touch with the needs of women across New Hampshire, and it puts women's health care at risk.

For many in New Hampshire, Planned Parenthood is the most affordable and accessible way to get the care they need, including basic preventive care such as family planning services--everything from breast and cervical cancer screenings and immunizations to HIV testing.

Last year alone, Planned Parenthood served more than 12,000 women in New Hampshire. Planned Parenthood is a trusted health care provider and an important part of our health care system. In some areas of New Hampshire, Planned Parenthood is the only local provider for women to receive affordable care.

On behalf of the millions of women who are served by Planned Parenthood, I will continue to oppose any effort to defund women's health care services, but of course, as we know, this week the attack on women's access to health care does not end with Planned Parenthood. Tomorrow we will vote on a bill that would ban women's access to abortion after 20 weeks.

The choice to terminate a pregnancy is a difficult and very personal decision. If that choice needs to be made later in a pregnancy, it is often the result of very complex circumstances--the kinds of situations where a woman and her doctor need every medical option available. This bill would place an added burden on women who are placed in that difficult situation. Women who are survivors of rape and incest would have that added burden. Furthermore, it threatens doctors, putting them at risk for harsh Federal criminal penalties.

Each woman, in consultation with her own family, her own health care providers, and her own conscience, should be able to follow her own beliefs when it comes to her own health care. We must protect women's reproductive constitutional rights, and I intend to continue to stand up for women as others here play politics with their health care.

Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle know they don't have the votes to pass this legislation. They know they don't have the votes to pass other legislation related to women's health that would limit women's access to comprehensive health services. Yet on the eve of a government shutdown, they are using precious floor time to bring these bills to a vote. This is shortsighted and, furthermore, I think it is irresponsible.

I remember the 2013 shutdown well. The impact on New Hampshire, on this country, was significant. Small- and medium-sized businesses across the State suffered from economic disruptions and financial losses. Their government contracts were frozen or they were disrupted. Their SBA loans were stalled. That shutdown, much like the one that is being threatened now, came at the peak of the fall tourism season. National parks and forests were closed, including the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire. The impacts on our tourism and outdoor recreational facilities were severe, not just in New Hampshire but across the country. FHA and VA loans were put on hold. Thousands of Federal employees who live in New Hampshire were furloughed. To shut down the Federal Government for any reason is reckless and irresponsible, but to do this, to contemplate doing this in order to deny women access to health care services, is reprehensible.

I hope this week or any other week we will not tolerate it, and we will move to the business of funding the government and addressing the challenges we face and leave the personal decisions about personal health care choices to the women and families and health care providers who should be making those decisions, not having the government make that decision.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I yield the floor.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source