Pregnant Students' Rights Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. STEVENS. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Oregon for yielding the time.

Outrageous in its meaning and egregious in its outcome, I rise in strong opposition to this bill, the Pregnant Students' Rights Act.

The amendment that I proposed in committee, the amendment that I took before the Rules Committee, to say that this bill should not fail in recognizing miscarriage, was not accepted, yet we know that upward of a quarter of pregnancies result in miscarriage.

If you are not privileged to be going to college in Michigan, a State where abortion rights are enshrined into our State Constitution and are protected, and you are having a miscarriage, what happens to you? You are turned away at a hospital, and you are turned away for medical care.

I rise today in support of women's healthcare rights, of women's freedom. Let's talk about pregnant rights, because we see in the States across this country, after Roe v. Wade was overturned, that women cannot get the healthcare they need. We see reporting in everyday publications like People magazine about women bleeding out in parking lots and women being forced to travel in their time of medical emergency on airplanes to get the care they need. That is what my colleagues are talking about.

Yes, there is the miracle of life, but there is a need for real healthcare. Here we are at the quarter of the 21st century mark in this great country, we have access to all of the medical information we need to support the unborn, to support women, and to make sure that we have the best health outcomes, yet we have rising maternal mortality and a Black maternal mortality crisis in this country.

How dare we come together under the guise of supporting pregnant students' rights without actually including full access to information to young women in their most vulnerable state? That is what we were pushing for in the Education and Labor Committee. That is what we were pushing for here on the House floor on the heels of voting on this resolution almost in the dark of the night. We have work to do.

I am proud to be in a State that protects women's rights, but, man, oh, man, am I terrified, am I heartbroken for women that don't have those rights.

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