Trump Administration Refuses Rule

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to condemn the Trump administration's dangerous final rule that allows healthcare workers to discriminate against patients based on their personal beliefs.

Too often, healthcare in this country is riddled with inequality, and while Democrats in the House are working to address this, the administration is trying to make it worse.

This policy will be most harmful to our sisters of color who often live in areas with hospitals that may refuse comprehensive reproductive healthcare, including abortion and birth control.

Refusals have already threatened the life of women with pregnancy complications. This rule could make the maternal mortality crisis among African American women even worse.

This is yet another attempt by the Trump administration to impose their beliefs and take away our healthcare and our rights, and I will continue to fight to ensure that healthcare is equal for all Americans.

Dr. Lawren, from my home state of Illinois, wrote to the Trump Administration in response to this rule.

She said, ``As a physician, it is absolutely crucial that I provide the same level of care for every patient no matter how my own beliefs differ from theirs. I often have patients with whom I disagree about a wide spectrum of political and social causes. It would be so outrageously inappropriate for me to use that as grounds to change my medical care or to alter the level of respect and compassion I show for these patients.''

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