Extremely Dangerous Decision

Floor Speech

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Mrs. TRAHAN. Madam Speaker, yesterday, our colleagues in the Senate held a key vote on legislation to codify women's reproductive rights that have been guaranteed under Roe v. Wade for the past 50 years.

Senators had the opportunity to go on the record to show their support for protecting the health and safety of every woman in America. That vote failed.

Madam Speaker, 51 Senators voted against the Women's Health Protection Act, joining the 211 House Members who, in the wake of the Supreme Court's draft opinion overturning Roe, support rolling back women's rights.

Madam Speaker, as a woman, I am horrified by what has taken place in the past week. As a mom, I am terrified for what the future holds for my two young girls.

As a Member of this body, I am infuriated by those who will stand here on this floor in the people's House and tell women that the rights we have cherished for the past 50 years were a mistake, that they should be undone with the stroke of a pen.

Make no mistake: This decision from the Supreme Court, or anything remotely close to it, is extremely dangerous. For tens of millions of women, it will mean losing access to lifesaving reproductive health services, and it will happen overnight.

In States like Texas and Alabama, it will mean that the victims of rape or incest will be forced to carry their traumatic, unwanted pregnancies to term.

To my colleagues who support that kind of future, I ask you if you can face your mother and explain to her why, if you can look at your daughter or your granddaughter in the eyes and say that she doesn't deserve the same rights as her brothers or her male classmates.

Over the past week, I have heard those who support Judge Alito's draft opinion in my home State say that we live in Massachusetts, so we don't have anything to worry about. However, that stance is flawed.

Yes, women in Massachusetts and other States that have done the right thing by codifying Roe will be safe, but for how long? Anti-choice activists and elected officials across the country, including many in this Chamber, have made it clear that they want to ban every woman in America from accessing abortion care.

They don't care about States' rights. They want to override State laws that protect our reproductive rights because they want to eliminate our ability to control our own bodies.

Well, I have news for those folks. History has shown us, with brutal clarity, that you will never ban abortions. You will just ban the safe ones.

Women, particularly women of color and those from low-income backgrounds, will be forced into the alleys for their abortion care. Many women will die from unsafe procedures.

While families mourn an empty seat at the dinner table, the wealthiest in America, including many who cheered on Judge Alito, will find ways to access that same care. But they will do it in secret to avoid the prosecution they want for others and the display of their own hypocrisy.

That is not the America I want my girls to grow up in. It is not the country I want for any of our daughters to grow up in.

So I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to stop thinking about the political ramifications of supporting women and to start thinking about what could happen to the women in your own life if you succeed.

There is still time to do the right thing. So join us, or at the very least, get out of our way. Our daughters are depending on us.

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