Providing for Consideration of H.R. Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Extending Limits of U.S. Customs Waters Act; Providing for Consideration of H. Res. Denouncing the Biden Administration's Immigration Policies; and Providing for Consideration of H. Res. Opposing Efforts to Place One-Sided Pressure on Israel with Respect to Gaza

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. SCHRIER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend and colleague, Representative Leger Fernandez, for her commitment to ensuring women's access to abortion care, no matter where they are in this country. This is because extreme Republicans are doubling down on their out-of- touch--and I will repeat--extreme attacks on women as they march toward a national abortion ban.

Make no mistake. By overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court deprived millions of women the freedom to make one of the most personal and important decisions of their lives.

As a physician, in fact, a pediatrician, I understand that reproductive healthcare, including abortion, is part of women's healthcare.

There is simply no place for politics in the exam room. This is a personal decision between a woman and her doctor. It is not a government decision, and government should not be meddling in healthcare. This is a slippery slope, as we are already seeing.

When there is a claim by my colleagues, by my Republican colleagues, that life begins at conception, the moment a sperm touches an egg, boy, that is a slippery slope.

We have already seen what that has done to IVF care. Parents who desperately want children are unable to have families now in Alabama because of this ruling. This is interfering with even more aspects of women's healthcare.

Next is contraception. Again, make no mistake. As one of two pro- choice woman doctors in Congress, you can count on me to do everything I can to protect women's access to safe abortion.

Mr. Speaker, this is why the Women's Healthcare Protection Act, which will keep government out of this most personal and important medical decision, is so critical to pass.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ.

I want to give everyone at home a behind-the-scenes look at what we just did here today. Republicans needed filler this week because they have no real agenda to work on. Of the four bills, three of them are do-nothing bills that attack the President, a customs bill that has broad support and didn't need a rule, and a FISA reauthorization which we don't even know will pass.

I think Americans want to know what we are not doing here. They want to know that we are not taking up the important legislation that Americans are worried about, like security assistance for Ukraine, which the Senate voted overwhelmingly to pass. The crucial aid to Ukraine would be critical to fight for democracy, but we are not even taking it up.

We are not taking up the need to pass a farm bill. Everywhere I go in my district, my rural area, I am asked: What is happening with the farm bill?

We are not taking it up. We are not taking up legislation to protect a woman's access to healthcare, so that if she has a miscarriage she is welcomed with assistance from her doctors and not handcuffs.

We have pointed out that the last bill to pass the Rules Committee and become law was almost a year ago, because Republicans in this Congress have been trying but failing over and over to govern. Democrats, in contrast, are willing to work across the aisle on bipartisan issues, to attack the important issues our constituents know we need to get done. We cannot continue to have the kind of infighting that stops legislative action for us to get the work done we need to get done.

Mr. Speaker, because of all the important issues that were raised and we need to take up, for women and people who love the women, who want to make sure they have the healthcare they deserve, vote ``no'' on the previous question. Let's take up the Women's Health Protection Act. Let's move on things that in every State, election after election, we know we need to get done.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose the previous question and the rule, and I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source