Providing for Consideration of H.R. National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year Providing for Consideration of S. Protecting Our Gold Star Families Education Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Women's Health Protection Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Active Shooter Alert Act of and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCANLON. Madam Speaker, it has been less than 3 weeks since Mitch McConnell's hand-picked, rightwing Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and with it 50 years of settled law regarding the fundamental privacy right of women to make their own decisions regarding their own healthcare. That decision has also called into question a host of other privacy rights that Americans had taken for granted, including the right to obtain contraception and the right to interracial and same-sex marriage.

Not surprisingly, the result has been chaos.

Why?

Because this decision is deeply unpopular and goes against the values of a strong majority of Americans: that a woman should have the essential freedom to decide when and if to bear children and how many and that politicians should not be in the business of mandating that women carry dangerous or unwanted pregnancies to term.

But in the wake of that extremist decision, we are already seeing politicians across the country seize this moment to substitute their own religious, economic, and, frankly, misogynistic views for that of women who have to live with the consequences of those reproductive healthcare decisions.

The vast majority of Americans understand that we don't need or want politicians invading our doctors' offices and a woman's privacy to impose an extremist, minority view because the reality is that these decisions are complicated. They are complicated by the physical health of both the woman and the fetus. They are complicated by the mental and financial health of the family. They are complicated by whether or not the pregnancy was the result of abuse or criminal activity. They are complicated by the religious beliefs of those involved because the rightwing views on pregnancy that the conservative Court has adopted are not shared by most Americans or by the medical profession or even by all major religions.

These decisions are complicated by whether or not there was access to birth control.

In a society that for decades has prioritized the well-being of unborn fetuses over that of children and families or even the health of pregnant women, it is complicated by whether or not a family has the means to provide for the basic needs of a mother or child, much less the opportunity for them to thrive or even enjoy life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness.

Unfortunately, the Republican legislature in Pennsylvania has jumped on this rightwing bandwagon, as well. Last week, in the middle of the night, Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania changed the rules of their house forbidding votes after 11 p.m. in order to ram through a constitutional amendment to limit access to abortion care. They had to use a constitutional amendment to get around the Governor's veto and regular order because their proposal is deeply unpopular with the majority of Pennsylvanians.

These attacks on our essential American freedoms cannot stand. Our families and freedoms are on the line, and it is more important than ever that we fight to protect and expand reproductive freedom.

The bills we are considering today are a critical fight for a world where all Americans--no matter who they are, where they live, or what they believe--have the freedom to make their own decisions about if and when to start or grow a family. So I am proud to support the passage of both the Women's Health Protection Act for a second time in this Congress and the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act.

As we see States start to pass laws that would limit the right of women to travel--think about that, the right to travel--to obtain healthcare, the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act makes it possible and safe for women needing abortion care to travel to States where it is accessible. These two bills are critical to enshrining a woman's right to an abortion and to reproductive healthcare into Federal law. I am proud to support these bills.

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