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Floor Speech
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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am honored to join my colleagues and the Presiding Officer, whom I thank for his leadership, in voicing my support for the Right to Contraception Act.
Truth be told, we shouldn't be here debating this issue. We shouldn't have to vote for legislation on it. Just 2 years ago, it would have been unimaginable that we would be turning the clock back not to the early 1970s, when Roe was decided, but to the 1960s, when the U.S. Supreme Court decided a case called Griswold v. Connecticut--yes, Griswold v. Connecticut--striking down the criminal prohibition against the use of contraception.
That decision had a profound impact on women and American families, and it was all to the good. It, in effect, struck down a prohibition that was disregarded widely but still followed, with consequences that were both tragic and detrimental to women's health.
Now we are in an era that regards the unthinkable as perfectly realistic, when my Republican colleagues here and across the country are working to ban or restrict access to abortion care and attempting to limit the ability of families to have children through IVF. No one could have thought that was possible just a couple of years ago.
But in the post-Dobbs era, it is not only possible, it is common. Griswold v. Connecticut is still the law of the land, but it has been undercut deeply by Dobbs, and it has undermined the ability of families to decide when and whether to have children. We are talking here, not about abortion but about contraceptive care which gives women a chance to choose their own path in life and select their own timeline to pursue or continue an education or trade or advance further in the workforce. It gives them the freedom they deserve as to when to have children as well as whether.
This decision is deeply personal. I shouldn't have to say it. It should be a matter of assumption, but politicians in this building and in State capitols around the country take on the right to make that decision for everyone else, not just themselves.
If my Republican colleagues really care about families and children, I would suggest they turn their attention to improving their lives in this world and support families rather than forcing people to have children that maybe they are not prepared to care for. And if they really care about women, how about maternal healthcare? I am struck by the fact--in fact, I am haunted by it--that maternal mortality rates in this country have actually been rising. Maternal mortality rates in the United States of America have been rising over recent years. It seems incomprehensible. Yes, we have cut infant mortality rates, but women still face heart disease, hemorrhage, infection, other kinds of complications, either before they give birth or within the year afterward and, of course, the mental health issues that can arise.
To my Republican colleagues, if you care about women, let's support the moms who decide to have children but leave to them the decision about whether and when.
In addition to determining their own futures, access to contraception is also access to critical healthcare. Since the landmark decision in Griswold, millions of women have safely used contraception to improve health outcomes for themselves, and birth control is revolutionary to anyone who has a life-threatening condition that prevents them from having a healthy pregnancy. Restricting access to birth control puts people in danger, preventable danger. Nearly 90 percent of women of reproductive age have used some form of birth control, and an overwhelming percentage of voters believe access to contraception is a basic right. It is a basic right.
Overturning Roe represented a significant regression in our law, in morality, in practical health outcome. In the blink of an eye, younger generations were set back before their moms in their basic rights and protection, their access to healthcare.
We have a responsibility in this body, at the pinnacle of our Federal system, to make sure that there is Federal protection against the attacks on reproductive care and ensure that generations of Americans don't have fewer rights than their parents. This bill is urgent in light of the continuing attack in State legislatures on women's access to healthcare and reproductive rights.
I wish we weren't here, but we are, and we need to do the right thing. My colleagues have a choice. They can either support a woman's right to access contraception or they can oppose this bill and oppose that right. I think there really is no question about how that choice should be made, and I hope they will make it tomorrow when we vote on this measure.
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