[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 130 (Thursday, September 25, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1858]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 DEPARTMENTS OF COMMERCE JUSTICE AND STATE, THE JUDICIARY AND RELATED 
                    AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT 1998

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 24, 1997

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2287) making 
     appropriations for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and 
     State, the Judiciary, and related agencies for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 1998, and for other purposes:


  Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of 
the Norton amendment.
  The ban on Federal funds for abortions for women in prison is one 
more step in a long line of rollbacks on women's reproductive freedoms.
  The Norton amendment seeks to correct one of the more shameful 
attacks on American women.
  Despite clear legal authority establishing the right of American 
women to choose abortion as a viable health option, many women 
prisoners are denied equal access to choose whether or not to terminate 
their pregnancies.
  Federal prisoners must rely on the Bureau of Prisons for all for 
their health care, yet without this amendment women will be prevented 
from seeking needed reproductive health care.
  Prisoners have a constitutional right to health care. Congress should 
not interfere with this right.
  It is too easy to attack women inmates, women who are often poor, 
uneducated, isolated, and beaten down. Women who are often victims of 
physical or sexual abuse.
  Most women prisoners are poor whey they enter prison, and cannot rely 
on anyone for financial assistance.
  These women already face limited prenatal care, isolation from family 
and friends, a bleak future, and the certain loss of custody of the 
infant.
  The ban on reproductive health services for women in prison closes 
off their only opportunity to receive much needed care, it denies them 
their constitutional rights, but most importantly, it denies them their 
dignity.
  We must stop this assault on women's right to choose. Mr. Chairman, I 
urge my colleagues to support the Norton amendment.

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