Providing for Consideration of H.R. Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act; Providing for Consideration H.J. Res. Providing for Congressional Disapproval of the Rule Submitted By the Department of Education Relating to ``Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance''; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, Providing for Consideration of H.R. Stop Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards Act; and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Refrigerator Freedom Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. McGovern for yielding the time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the rule and in strong support of something my constituents are calling about. It is not dishwashers, and it is not refrigerators. It is support for the Women's Health Protection Act which will provide in law the right for Americans to make their own reproductive healthcare decisions.

The rightwing extremists on the Supreme Court who authored the Dobbs decision overturning abortion rights have shown that they will do anything to further their regressive, extreme, and dangerous ideology regardless of the long history of Court precedent.

For almost 50 years, the intensely personal decision about whether or when to bear a child or have an abortion was right where it belongs, with the one who is pregnant.

My colleagues on the other side of the aisle claim to be pro-life, but the policies they support are anything but.

I remember the days before Roe v. Wade when abortions done without medical care could and often did have tragic outcomes, including death. Even before the Dobbs decision, maternal death rates in 2020 were 62 percent higher in States that ban or restrict abortion than in States where it was acceptable.

Restrictive abortion laws also cause infant mortality rates to rise, including in Texas where both infant death rates and the number of babies who died of birth defects have increased since their restrictive law banning abortion as early as 6 weeks went into effect.

A study from Johns Hopkins University found that between 2021 and 2022, the infant mortality rate increased by 8.3 percent in Texas, and that is compared with a 2.2 percent increase nationally. While the death rate of babies 28 days old or younger fell in other States overall, it increased by 5.8 percent in Texas.

Make no mistake, Madam Speaker, these laws are not about protecting life. They are about control: controlling the bodies of others and removing their personal freedom to make the decision about whether or when to bear a child.

This will not stop at the State level. At the first opportunity, congressional Republicans will try to enact a nationwide abortion ban to prevent anyone in this country from getting the care they need.

For these reasons and more, we must defeat the previous question so we can pass the very important Women's Health Protection Act to protect the right to abortion and restore the freedoms that the Supreme Court, with support from Republicans, brazenly stripped away.

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