Commit to Reproductive Justice

Floor Speech

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Mrs. FLETCHER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the women of this country, for their health and for their rights.

In this Congress, in this House, we have worked to ensure women's access to healthcare, to protect women and men with preexisting conditions, to lower the cost of prescription drugs, and to make healthcare more affordable and accessible. But in State houses across the country, women's access to their most basic healthcare is under attack. And it is not just their healthcare that is under attack; it is their equality.

The law passed in the Alabama State House this week is the most extreme and dangerous since Roe v. Wade, banning abortion at any point in pregnancy and threatening doctors with life in prison.

It is not just this Alabama law; it is laws in Georgia, Mississippi, and my home State of Texas, and the efforts of the current administration that result in a dramatic reduction in women's access to reproductive healthcare and basic family planning services and a denial of their reproductive rights.

Doctors and public health leaders agree that the cost of these laws will be women's lives. We cannot let that happen.

As we work to protect our care, we must support the women of this country and their right to safe, affordable, nonjudgmental reproductive healthcare. We must commit to reproductive justice.

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