Providing for Consideration of H.R. Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up on the negative impact that the restrictions on funding for travel to receive abortion services will have on our servicemembers and their families, women of childbearing years.

Unfortunately, in the South, between New Mexico and Virginia, you have a ban on abortion. In some cases total, and in some cases there are exceptions for rape or the life of the mother, but the mother's life has to be on the verge of death. Unfortunately, in these States, they make no distinction between miscarriage management, and they apply to cases, like you heard, where there has been fetal demise and a miscarriage. If you do not remove the fetal tissue, then the mother can go septic and die. If she loses her amniotic fluid and you do not terminate that pregnancy, she can go septic and die.

I represent a State that has over 170,000 Federal employees and 130,000 Active-Duty military personnel. With the Hyde amendment in place, we are already telling pregnant people in that situation: You have to pay for that service yourself. Their insurance won't pay for it. Many hospitals will consider them uninsured and won't let them have those procedures in the hospital, so they have to go find a clinic which, in many cases, is getting harder.

Now, if they are in a State that has banned abortion in that situation, they have got to, on top of that, pay to travel somewhere where they can get, in some cases, lifesaving care. In addition, we have seen that these abortion bans have led to fewer OB/GYNs in those States.

How are we going to recruit women of childbearing years when we say to them: If you get the worst news ever in your life, that you have suffered a miscarriage or you have to choose between your life or continuing a pregnancy, when you are already willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to keep this country safe, you are on your own. That is what this bill with that amendment will do.

Our servicemen and -women deserve better. In a country that already has an atrocious maternal mortality rate, this will lead to even more maternal deaths. I don't know how we are going to recruit the women that we need.

I don't have enough time to talk about how the anti-DEI amendments will make it harder to recruit a service force that is as fully diverse as the country they serve, but this amendment, in particular, will be dangerous for our military servicewomen or families of our servicemen. That is why I ask that we vote against the rule.

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