Hire More Heroes Act of 2013 -- Motion to Proceed -- Continued

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, one would think, now more than ever, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle would recognize the American people really want us focused squarely on jobs and the economy. It is what every poll says. It is what the vast majority of all of our constituents say, and it is absolutely what is needed at a time when families, especially working women, continue to struggle to make ends meet. But instead of working with us across the aisle to give every American a fair shot, it seems as though Republicans are focused on something else entirely: Politics.

Today, the senior Senator from South Carolina came to the floor and attempted to pass a bill that not only undermines women's access to their doctors but restricts their rights to access reproductive health services. I am not sure what our colleagues think has changed since they last introduced this bill in November, but just as it was back then, this extreme, unconstitutional abortion ban is an absolute nonstarter. It is not going anywhere in the Senate and, as they know, it is a cheap political ploy. I would like to think that over the last 41 years, since the historic decision of Roe v. Wade, we have moved on from debating this issue. I would like to think that after four decades, many of those who want to make women's health care decisions for them have come to grips with the fact that Roe v. Wade is settled law. After all, many of the signs of progress are all around us.

In this Congress there is a record 20 women serving in this body. In 2012 women's power and voice at the ballot box was heard pretty loudly and clearly. In fact, when Republican candidates for office thought that rape was a political talking point, that idea and their candidacies were swiftly rejected, thanks in large part to the voices of women.

So sometimes it is tempting to think that times indeed have changed and that maybe, just maybe, politicians have finally realized that getting between a woman and her doctor is not their job, that it is possible rightwing legislators have a newfound respect for women. But the truth is that the drumbeat of politically-driven, extreme, and unconstitutional laws continues to get louder.

In 2013 our Nation saw yet another record-breaking year of State legislatures passing restrictive legislation barring women's access to abortion services. In fact, in the past 3 years, more of these restrictions have been enacted across this country than in the previous 10 years combined. And anti-choice lawmakers here in our Nation's capital have filed 50 legislative attacks on reproductive rights in this Congress alone.

By the way, these haven't just been attacks on a woman's right to choose, they have been an all-out assault on everything from shaming pregnant women to drafting politically-driven legislation intended to create geographical roadblocks for low-income and racial minorities wishing to access safe reproductive services.

Not surprisingly, these States that have enacted some of the most extreme and archaic restrictions are also the same States that fail to achieve even mediocre standards when it comes to critical issues such as education and the economy. But despite these shortcomings, some Members of this body refuse to work with us to address those critical issues and instead want to distract the American public with these purely political bills until the small pocket of their extreme audience is satisfied.

In fact, according to the Senator from South Carolina, debating a woman's access to her own doctor is a ``debate worthy of a great democracy.'' The fact is it is a debate we have already had. This is a directed attack on Roe v. Wade, and it is attack on what is already settled law.

I wish to remind my colleagues today that real women's lives and the most difficult health care decisions they could ever possibly make are at stake.

Let me share with my colleagues the story of Judy Nicastro. She is from my home State of Washington. She bravely shared her story publicly in the New York Times. I have told her story before, but it bears repeating now because we are under attack again. In an op-ed she wrote, just days before the House passed a bill that was virtually identical to the one that was introduced today, Judy talked about being faced with every pregnant woman's worst nightmare.

In describing the news that one of the twins she was carrying was facing a condition where only one lung chamber had formed and that it was only 20 percent complete, Judy captured the anguish countless other women in similar positions have faced. ``My world stopped,'' she wrote.

I loved being pregnant with twins and trying to figure out which one was where in my uterus. Sometimes it felt like a party in there, with eight limbs moving. The thought of losing one child was unbearable.

She went on to say:

The MRI at Seattle Children's Hospital confirmed our worst fears: The organs were pushed up into our boy's chest and not developing properly. We were in the 22nd week.

Under the bill proposed today, the decision Judy ultimately made, through very painful conversations with her family and with consultation with her doctors, would be illegal. The decision to make sure, as she put it, that ``our son was not born only to suffer'' would be taken from her and given to politicians.

I am here today to provide a simple reality check. We are not going back. We are not going back on settled law such as Roe v. Wade or the Affordable Care Act. We are not going to take away a woman's ability to make her own decisions about her own health care and her own body.

Just as with the many attempts before this bill, there are those who would like the American public to believe that all of these efforts are anything but an attack on women's health care. They try to say it is a debate about freedom, except, of course, the freedom for women to access care.

It is no different than when we were told attacks on abortion rights are not an infringement on a woman's right to choose; they are about religion or States rights. Or when we are told that restricting emergency contraception isn't about limiting women's ability to make their own family planning decisions, but it is somehow about protecting pharmacists. Or as demonstrated last month when a Republican State lawmaker in Missouri introduced legislation to triple the State's mandatory waiting period for abortion services, claiming it would give women more time to do their ``research.''

Not that we should be surprised, he went on then to compare this deeply personal and difficult choice to that of purchasing an automobile saying: ``In making a decision to buy a car, I put research in there to find out what to do.''

The truth is this is an attempt to limit a woman's ability to access care. This is about women. Instead of playing a game of political football with women and their health, Republicans should instead consider joining with us in working on what women truly want.

Women today want to have a fair shot at success. First and foremost, that means not rolling back the clock or eroding the gains we have made. We took a very good step forward with the Affordable Care Act, which now prevents insurance companies from charging women more than men for coverage, ensuring preventive services such as mammograms and contraception coverage is covered and increasing access to comprehensive health coverage, thanks to the Medicaid expansion and the exchanges. There is no doubt we need to make sure women have access in this country to opportunities such as getting equal pay for equal work or giving the millions of women earning the minimum wage a raise, which would go a long way towards that effort. We need to update our Tax Code so that mothers who are returning to the workforce do not face a marriage penalty.

There is much more we could be doing to address the issues of concerned women. Those are the issues we ought to be focused on--how to move our country forward, not backward.

So if it wasn't clear the last time the senior Senator from South Carolina made this attempt, it ought to be clear now. Senators such as myself are not going anywhere. Advocates and doctors who treat those women every day and know their health must be protected are not going anywhere. And women who continue to believe their health care decisions are theirs and theirs alone are not going to go anywhere. By the way, the Constitution is not going to go anywhere. Therefore, this extreme bill that was offered today is not going anywhere.

Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source