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Floor Speech
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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I want to make sure that the country and this institution knows that the leadership of our new colleague from the State of Delaware is making a difference already. She has been doing yeoman's work on this for quite some time.
In fact, in the other body, as it is called, the House of Representatives, she stood for the values that have been expressed here today and we so appreciate her leadership and I thank her, personally, for including me.
We are on the floor to mark an anniversary of what was essentially the end of women having power over healthcare decisions. Before Roe v. Wade was overturned, many of my Democratic colleagues and I warned that it would be deadly for women. We were labeled liars and gaslighters and fearmongers. And, unfortunately, for the women of America, you don't have to take our word for it. Since the Dobbs ruling was handed down 3 years ago, 22 States have passed restrictive, near- or total abortion bans, and countless women have died as a direct result of those laws.
In Georgia, Amber Nicole Thurman died after she developed an infection during pregnancy and was denied lifesaving reproductive care under her State's new abortion law.
In Texas, Porsha Ngumezi, a mom of two, was expecting her third child when she suddenly developed complications and began miscarrying. She died after going to the ER where she was denied the care she needed, and she was left to bleed out all because her doctors were too scared to perform the necessary medical care under Texas's abortion law.
Josseli Barnica of Texas was pregnant, hoping to give her daughter another sibling, when she developed complications with her pregnancy. She rushed to the hospital where doctors left her to suffer for 40 hours without giving her the healthcare she needed. That was because it was illegal under Texas law. She died 3 days later after developing a preventable infection because she had been denied care.
Despite Federal law that requires providers to give women reproductive care in emergency medical situations, these States are letting women die anyway. Every single one of these deaths was preventable if Republican lawmakers hadn't put abortion bans in place that threaten doctors and hospitals with jail time and other legal actions if they provide necessary reproductive care.
Many of the women hurt by these abortion bans are already mothers or women hoping to start a family, but because they are being denied necessary care, those that don't die are often being left with complications that take away their ability to have kids in the future.
In Tennessee, Breanna Cecil had to travel out of State, all the way to Chicago, to get an abortion after a complication with her pregnancy. But before returning to Tennessee, she developed a recurring infection that resulted in invasive surgery that left her infertile. Breanna says that her State's strict abortion law ``took away her fertility.''
So I am going to end very briefly by fast forwarding to 2025. Republicans don't seem to have learned any lessons. They don't seem phased by the pain and suffering their laws are causing women and mothers across the land. Instead, they are doubling down on their efforts to restrict access to reproductive care for even more women; this time, through a backdoor abortion ban in the reconciliation budget bill. This legislation contains a provision that would strip funding from Planned Parenthood clinics that perform abortion services.
Mr. President, Planned Parenthood does not receive a single dime--not a dime--of Federal funding for abortion care. These clinics do receive funding to provide essential care, like STD and cancer screenings and annual exams--often, for women of color or women living in low-income communities to have access to this care.
All of this will be ripped away under the Republicans' ``Big Bad Budget Bill,'' alongside the 16 million people they plan on kicking off their health insurance with their Medicaid and affordable care cuts.
Before Roe was overturned, I warned repeatedly that the loss of privacy--the loss of the right to make your most private decisions free of government intrusion--would have a domino effect. Unfortunately, that has become the reality. The overturn of Roe has not stopped an abortion.
Since the Dobbs ruling, Republican lawmakers and conservative judges have also taken aim at the use of IVF and contraception. A headline out of Ohio, less than 1 week ago, reads:
Republican lawmakers in Ohio to propose total abortion and IVF ban.
The endgame for Republicans here is a politician in every single exam room and bedroom in America; a politician between you and your doctor, between you and your spouse.
The overturn of Roe has stripped women in America of the right to make their own healthcare decisions. It has stripped women of control over their own bodies and has stripped women of their basic constitutional rights.
Mr. President, ever since I chaired the first-ever congressional hearing on access to abortion medication, back in 1990, I felt that this was a fundamental right that women were entitled to. I am just as committed today to battling against these draconian laws as long as it takes to secure women the ability to make their own healthcare decisions.
I see a number of my colleagues on the floor who have been eloquent speakers for women's healthcare. I want to close by thanking my colleague from Delaware, again, for championing all of us to be here at this time to make sure that we made a difference and spoke out. We very much appreciate your leadership.
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