Unanimous Consent Request--S. 3072

Floor Speech

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Mrs. HYDE-SMITH. Mr. President, in a few moments, I will ask unanimous consent for the Senate to take up and pass legislation I have introduced to protect women from harm and to protect their health.

This is such an important issue to me as a Senator, as a woman, and as a mother. I am pleased several of my Senate colleagues have joined me on the floor to discuss this important issue, and I look forward to hearing their remarks as well.

Twenty years ago this month, the Food and Drug Administration approved, for the very first time, the abortion pill known as mifepristone. It did so under the immense pressure from the Clinton administration and its pro-abortion allies. However, when the FDA approved this drug, it recognized the serious risk of complications and life-threatening side effects that can be caused by this drug. Because of the risk of harm, and even death, the FDA put in place certain rules to protect the health of women. These rules are known as risk, evaluation, and mitigation strategies--or REMS for short--because they work to mitigate the risks posed by this drug to women.

These commonsense rules require a woman to see a doctor to get the drug, to be fully informed of the potential side effects and how she can seek followup treatment for those life-threatening side effects, and to offer her informed consent before being prescribed the drug.

These simple, commonsense rules have been in place to protect the health of women for over 20 years. Recognizing their importance, I introduced the SAVE Moms and Babies Act last year to codify these rules into law to make sure they remain in place to protect women from these serious side effects. However, pro-abortion forces oppose even these basic protections for women's health and have been working to undermine them, putting women at serious risk.

This summer, a judge in Maryland issued a nationwide injunction canceling these REMS rules for the entire country. We knew this was coming. Back in April, I led 150 Members of Congress, including 38 Members of this body, in warning the FDA about this issue, and now pro-abortion advocates have found one activist judge to rule in their favor, putting women's health at risk in the middle of a pandemic.

Even with the REMS rules in place to protect women's health, a substantial number of women end up needing lifesaving surgery or blood transfusions following chemical abortion. Sadly, some women have even died from these dangerous drugs.

Make no mistake, no protections mean more adverse events for women. These protections ensure that a doctor could examine the woman to see if she has an ectopic pregnancy or is RH negative. These conditions can seriously increase the risk of harm to a woman taking this drug.

No REMS protections means at-home abortion without medical oversight, putting women at risk of bleeding out and dying alone without a doctor to help her. No REMS protections mean that every State health and safety law that protects women from harm will be at risk. No REMS protections mean mail-order abortion without physicians providing the screenings recommended by the doctors and scientists at the FDA.

That is why it is more important than ever to pass my bill, the SAVE Moms and Babies Act, to codify into law the important FDA REMS rules that protect women from the dangers inherent in mail-order, do-it- yourself chemical abortions.

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Mrs. HYDE-SMITH. Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 3072 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
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Mrs. HYDE-SMITH. The Democrats have shown time and again that they would rather put the profits of the abortion industry over protecting women. That is what is happening again today.

Make no mistake, the Democrats are trying to change to another bill because they want to distract you from what my bill is about. My bill is about protecting women from dangerous at-home abortions without a physician involved whatsoever. That is what my bill does--ensure women have to see a doctor to get this drug, ensure the doctor can examine her to see if she has any conditions that might make her at higher risk for complications, make sure she is fully informed and consents that she is not coerced.

Democrats objecting to this shows you how far to the left the Democratic Party is on abortion. Passing my bill should be a no- brainer. The REMS rules were put into place by a Democratic FDA to protect women. They have been in effect for 20 years, until the judge in Maryland fell for some far-fetched arguments from abortion advocates.

The FDA and HHS implement government health and safety regulations to protect patients and ensure that doctors are doing their job, to make sure that drugs are safe and that patients are not harmed. That is why we have an FDA and why we have an HHS.

I agree with the Senator from Washington State that FDA and HHS should do this work based on scientific evidence. That is exactly what happened in 2000 when the Clinton administration and FDA scientists looked at the evidence and decided these REMS rules were needed to protect women from the dangers of this abortion drug.

Usually, Democrats support science-based health protections but not when it comes to abortion. When it comes to abortion, they are in the pocket of the abortion lobby and would rather play politics rather than protect women's health.

We can't let Senate Democrats change the subject by trying to bring up another bill that is not related to these REMS protections whatsoever. We can't let them try to change the subject from women's health to their latest conspiracy theory about the President. Therefore,

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