Announcement By the Acting Chair

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. PRESSLEY. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to amendment No. 34.

I rise today on behalf of the servicemembers and their families who make innumerable sacrifices for our country and our freedoms, yet today, there are efforts underfoot to deny them their own.

Healthcare is a human right, yet today there are deep disparities that create barriers to access to care, including today's amendments, which will only deepen those gaps.

This is especially true when it comes to abortion care and reproductive healthcare. There has been a daily assault on access to regular and routine care.

In addition to full-spectrum reproductive care being an essential human right, it is also a readiness imperative for our military. If you care about the fitness of our military, then part of that readiness imperative includes access to the full spectrum of reproductive care. This is a human right. You should not have to forfeit your right to medical care when you enlist to serve your nation.

Due to the massive restrictions to abortion care enacted at the State level, for many of our military families on base, they cannot receive the care they need, and they must navigate onerous travel to get basic healthcare. This includes in instances of being raped by a fellow soldier or a superior.

My colleagues across the aisle are trying to trap pregnant servicemembers and deny them the care that they seek. This is dystopian, but unfortunately, it is all too real. Since draconian and cruel abortion bans have been enacted across our country, pregnant people have been denied care, and the outcomes have been debilitating and devastating.

People have been denied miscarriage treatment and care for ectopic pregnancies. Mothers have lost their ability to have a child because of convoluted laws that delayed or denied the urgent abortion care they sought, resulting in lasting health issues and infertility.

It is unconscionable that this military bill will become yet another blunt instrument to deny women and families across the Nation their bodily autonomy. This is not the type of exceptionalism that we should be leading in this country.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source