Women's Health Protection Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 667, I call up the bill (H.R. 3755) to protect a person's ability to determine whether to continue or end a pregnancy, and to protect a health care provider's ability to provide abortion services, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

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Mr. PALLONE. 3755.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3755, the Women's Health Protection Act of 2021. The need to pass this legislation grows more urgent every day as anti-abortion extremists continue to pass harmful State laws that are intended to restrict access to reproductive healthcare and turn back the clock on the constitutionally protected right to abortion.

While the courts seem willing to chip away at decades of clear precedent guaranteeing the right for women to make their own healthcare decisions, it is vital we act to protect this right and enshrine it in Federal law.

This legislation simply ensures that no matter where they live, patients can access abortion services, and healthcare providers can provide this care without medically unnecessary and burdensome restrictions. And now is the time to pass this legislation and ensure women's healthcare rights are enshrined in Federal law.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation today, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Eshoo), the chairwoman of our Health Subcommittee.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries), the chairman of the Democratic Caucus.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Clark), the Assistant Speaker.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Chu), the prime sponsor of this legislation.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Colorado (Ms. DeGette), the chairwoman of our Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky), who chairs our Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), our Democratic majority leader.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from New York (Miss Rice).

Miss RICE of New York. Madam Speaker, the extreme abortion ban in Texas makes it clear: We need a Federal law that protects the right to abortion.

The Texas ban is not the first to attempt to eliminate abortion access across this country, and it will not be the last.

Every year the attacks on reproductive health get worse, and we know these attacks are not about the sanctity of life. If they were, Republicans would be wearing masks, they would be promoting the vaccine, and they would be championing our childcare policies that have lifted millions of children out of poverty. We know what the true agenda is: It is about controlling women and taking away their God- given right to make decisions about their own body.

As the Supreme Court prepares to consider a case that will directly challenge Roe v. Wade, Congress needs to take action.

Now is the time to pass the Women's Health Protection Act and protect abortion access for every single person across this country.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Schrier).

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Mrs. Trahan).

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, may I inquire how much time remains.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas (Mrs. Fletcher).

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney), chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, our constitutional rights are under attack. We must pass the Women's Health Protection Act to firmly establish a statutory right to abortion care in every community across our country.

Our rights are no longer being chipped away. They are being bulldozed into the ground. We must act now before it is too late.

Madam Speaker, I thank our chairman for his extraordinary leadership on this issue, and I urge a ``yes'' vote.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett).

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee).

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz).

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Madam Speaker, it is past time we took the power to make deeply personal healthcare decisions out of Governors' mansions and State legislatures and put them back where they belong, in the hands of patients and their doctors.

Just this week, my home State of Florida filed a horrific anti- abortion bill that is a revolting assault on women's rights. With Federal courts becoming more hostile to reproductive access, we must not waver in the passage of the Women's Health Protection Act.

Thankfully, this bill before us today protects the right to access abortion throughout the United States and safeguards against medically unnecessary bans and restrictions like those in Texas' S.B. 8.

Equal access to abortion care everywhere is essential to economic participation, reproductive autonomy, and the right to determine our own lives.

Congress has a responsibility to pass legislation that makes these human rights a reality.

Madam Speaker, I urge passage of this vital piece of legislation.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Speier).

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline).

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. DelBene).

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