Women's Health Protection Act of 2021

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding.

This is a serious issue. Some would say it is an issue about freedom, about individual integrity, as to who makes choices. I hear a lot about freedom, about government not interfering.

Madam Speaker, millions of women across our country and the men who stand with them are in shock and outrage at the new law in Texas and the Supreme Court's refusal to block it from taking effect. Texas senate bill 8 bans any abortion after 6 weeks. That is, of course, before most women know that they are pregnant.

It includes no exceptions for rape or incest. What do you think the psychological impact on the health of a woman is if you don't think this is about the health of women?

As many as 90 percent of women seeking reproductive care in Texas do so after 6 weeks, meaning that this law effectively bans women in the State from accessing the full range of reproductive care that they are guaranteed under Roe v. Wade. Now, my presumption is, of course, most speaking against this are not for and didn't support and would like to see Roe v. Wade repealed.

Also deeply disturbing is the way senate bill 8 is enforced. The law gives any private individual the authority to police any of their fellow citizens whom they suspect may be providing for or receiving reproductive care. How draconian, how communistic, how authoritarian such a scheme is.

This vigilante system is at odds with the values of American democracy, reminiscent of the kind of tactics previously used behind the Iron Curtain and still employed by totalitarian regimes.

The bill before us today would enshrine in statute the rights women are guaranteed under Roe v. Wade that the majority of Americans support at a time when they are increasingly under attack.

Statistics released in June by the Guttmacher Institute showed that over 500 bills restricting women's healthcare access had already been introduced since the start of this year in State legislatures; and as of last month, nearly 100 of those had been enacted.

The policies enacted by senate bill 8 and similar measures in other States under Republican control not only have the effect of eliminating access to reproductive choice, but also to a range of lifesaving healthcare services for women, particularly for low-income women.

This will probably not affect many wealthy women who can get in their car or get on the airplane and go wherever they might go. So opposition to this bill is directly discriminatory to women of less means to their healthcare. These range from cancer screenings to prenatal visits; from treating injuries to referring patients to counseling after trauma like sexual assault.

According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, nearly 90 percent of American counties do not have a single reproductive care provider.

For many women, the health clinics that provide these services are their primary source of healthcare. Measures like senate bill 8 are forcing many of these clinics to shut down.

Our country ought to be working to expand these resources for women, not make the healthcare harder to access.

We know that S.B. 8 and similar laws being enacted across the country will not stop women from seeking the full range of reproductive care. You know that. Back to the hanger, perhaps, and the death of scores, thousands, perhaps, of women who see no alternative.

The Women's Health Protection Act is a necessary response to Republicans' efforts to make it harder for women to access healthcare across the country. I thank Judy Chu for leading this effort. I am grateful to Congresswoman Chu for authoring this legislation and championing this cause.

I am the father of three daughters, the grandfather of two granddaughters, and the great-grandfather of three great- granddaughters. I, frankly, do not want any of us making decisions for their healthcare.

Democrats are committed to taking action to secure Roe v. Wade and to protect women's access to reproductive healthcare no matter where they live.

The Women's Health Protection Act is a critical step in securing that ability for millions of American women, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source