Women's Health Protection Act of 2021
Floor Speech
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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3755, the Women's Health Protection Act. I want to thank my colleague Rep. Judy Chu for leading the charge on this important legislation to protect the full range of health care, including abortion.
Every American deserves to live a safe and healthy life, and that means ensuring that everyone has access to the health services they need including contraceptives, checkups, abortion care, cancer screenings, pre-natal visits and more. The full range of health care. But too often in America access to high-quality, affordable health care has been limited due to racial disparities or economic disparities or where someone lives.
I'm really proud of what Democrats have done over the decades to improve the lives of American families and improve their health care, Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act and children's health insurance, but we're in a moment in time where there's a radical fringe trying to take over these decisions.
We must remember that the decision about when, whether or how to become a parent is a deeply personal life decision. It's a decision for a person and their family; it is not a decision for politicians in Washington or in state capitols across this country. Americans do not want to outsource these important fundamental life decisions to politicians. And I hope we can agree that we should not treat people differently just because they are working to make ends meet, or because of the color of their skin or where they live. As fundamental human dignity means being able to make decisions about your pathway in life, being able to determine your own pathway in life for yourself, not have it be made by some politician. I have to say it is so alarming to see this radical move by Republicans in Congress and in the recent extreme new law in Texas that would effectively ban abortion.
For too long, we have seen Republicans across this country attack family planning and reproductive health care, including abortion and contraceptives. It's radical and it's wrong.
Well good news, we are going to do our job as members of Congress today to put people's health, safety and real needs first. We've got to ensure that all people no matter who they are, where they live and how much they make and the color of their skin, have access to reproductive health care--including abortion--that they need, and they deserve.
I urge my colleagues to make health care accessible to all Americans by supporting H.R. 3755.
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