Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the Department of Veterans Affairs Relating to ``Reproductive Health Services''--motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Ms. ROSEN. Madam President, since the Supreme Court overturned longstanding protections for the fundamental right to access abortion care nearly a year ago, we have seen countless attacks on women's reproductive rights from anti-choice States across our Nation--States that are banning abortions without exceptions for rape or incest; States that are risking the lives of women who have miscarried; and I have been doing everything I can to stand up and to defend a woman's fundamental right to make healthcare choices for her own body without interference from anti-choice politicians.

And this includes making sure we protect our veterans' rights, and that includes the right for those veterans to make decisions over their own bodies. Our veterans and their families--you know, they have risked so much to protect our Nation, to protect our rights. And we owe it to them to defend their fundamental right to access reproductive care, regardless of where they live. They put themselves in harm's way. We must protect them.

That is why, last year, I urged the Department of Veterans Affairs to make it clear that they will provide access to abortion care to veterans and their families, and I am glad they listened. But today-- today--anti-choice Republicans in Washington want to overturn that decision, and they want to restrict our veterans' access to reproductive care.

That is what today's debate is about. If they get their way and they roll back this rule, the VA healthcare system would no longer be allowed to provide abortion counseling or any kind of care to servicemembers and veterans and--listen to this--even in the cases of rape, even when the mother's life is at risk.

I am not going to let that happen.

My State of Nevada is honored to be the home of hundreds of thousands of veterans, and we are a proud pro-choice State. When Nevadans sent me here to the Senate, they sent me here to fight for their rights, and that is what I will always do.

So I urge my colleagues to join me in fighting back against this ideological attempt to restrict reproductive rights for veterans by opposing this resolution.

For our veterans, for our women in Nevada, for women everywhere in the United States, I urge a ``no'' vote.

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