Providing For Consideration of H.R. 1735, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016; Providing for Consideration of H.R. 36, Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act; And for Consideration of Motions to Suspend the Rules

Floor Speech

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Madam Speaker, in 6 days, the highway trust fund expires. So what is Congress spending its time doing today? Of course, it is debating a bill that will limit a woman's access to a safe and legal medical procedure and that will place politicians in a place they should never be--between a woman and her doctor. Ask your mother, your sister, your daughter, your wife, or your neighbor, and she will tell you that women don't need politicians' interference when making their own healthcare decisions. Yet here we are again today, debating a bill that does just that.

Everybody remembers that this bill was pulled from the floor in January because it was so extreme, but, today, the bill that is on the floor is even worse than the bill that they pulled in January.

H.R. 36 is particularly harmful to victims of rape and incest. Women who have had unbelievable trauma would be effectively forced to get permission before they could seek the medical treatment that they needed to regain some control over their bodies, their health, and their safety. They would have to jump through complex and punitive legal hoops before they could have the procedures that they need. Therefore, somebody who has been victimized once would end up being victimized again by our government.

Let's be clear. The new provisions in this law include a number of burdensome requirements on rape and incest victims:

First, there is a waiting period of 48 hours for an adult rape survivor;

Second, there is a requirement that a minor who is a victim of rape or incest would give written proof after 20 weeks that she reported the crime to law enforcement or to a government agency. A minor who is a victim of incest has to do this. There is language that specifies that the counseling or medical treatment described above may not be from a health center that provides abortion services. So let's say she goes to her doctor, and she gets counseling, but someone else in that medical practice provides abortion. She is out of luck. If she doesn't thread that needle, too bad. She can't get it.

Perhaps the most outrageous thing about this bill, though, is the fundamental disrespect that it shows to women. It assumes that women will just wake up in this country after 20 weeks of pregnancy, decide to have abortions, and then lie about being victims of rape or incest. That view is just wrong, and it is offensive to women.

By the way, as Ms. Slaughter mentioned, this bill is patently unconstitutional, and even if it didn't get vetoed by the President, it would be struck down by the Supreme Court. I suggest that we vote ``no'' now and that we respect women's ability to make their own health decisions.

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