[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 134 (Wednesday, October 6, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2048]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNITION OF JEANNIE I. ROSOFF'S 30 YEARS OF COMMITMENT TO WOMEN'S 
                    REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND FREEDOM

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. HENRY A. WAXMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, October 6, 1999

  Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Jeannie I. Rosoff, 
President of the Alan Guttmacher Institute, who will be retiring after 
31 years of service, 20 of them as AGI's president. AGI, under 
Jeannie's leadership, has been an invaluable partner in working to 
protect and promote reproductive health and freedom.
  During the years I served as Chairman of the House Subcommittee on 
Health and the Environment, and since, I have relied heavily on AGI's 
timely, relevant and reliable research and on its politically astute 
staff, all guided by Jeannie, to help advance us towards our mutual 
goal. Among the many programs that fell under my subcommittee's 
jurisdiction were Title X of the Public Health Service Act--the 
national family planning program--and Medicaid. As a result, the 
subcommittee became a focal point for legislative activity relating to 
reproductive health policy. During the time my tenure has overlapped 
with Jeannie's, we have made numerous efforts--some of them 
successful--to pass legislation reauthorizing Title X without 
debilitating amendments. We have fought off the squeal rule--a 
requirement that minors could only obtain contraceptive services with 
prior parental consent--and defended against the gag rule, which would 
have prohibited doctors at Title X clinics from providing women full 
information about their pregnancy options and prevented women from 
being able to give informed consent to their medical care. We have 
resisted repeated attempts by family planning opponents to dissolve 
Title X's categorical structure and to fold family planning services 
into a block grant to the states. We have fought against the countless 
legislative attacks on access to safe abortion services for indigent 
women, especially affecting those eligible for Medicaid. Finally, we 
have tried to promote a national approach to health care reform, which 
would have recognized comprehensive reproductive health care as an 
integral and legitimate part.
  Many of these battles, both pro-active and reactive, will certainly 
continue in the years to come. I intend to continue to advocate for 
rational and compassionate federal policies on reproductive health and 
rights, and I know Jeannie will too, even if it is not in her official 
capacity anymore. After all, Jeannie was here in Washington in 1968, 
spearheading the effort to gain federal recognition of the important 
role of the national government in ensuring access to reproductive 
health services for all people. She advocated especially on behalf of 
those least able to advocate for themselves: poor women, young women 
and those otherwise disadvantaged. Indeed, she may well be considered 
the ``mother'' of title X, as she was the primary Washington advocate 
agitating for its introduction in 1968 and passage in 1970. Her 
innumerable contributions to furthering the cause of reproductive 
rights have been invaluable and lasting, perhaps most of all to those 
young women and poor women who will never know her name. And I know 
they will continue in the future.
  For what she's done, and all she's been, I join the many, many others 
who say, thank you, Jeannie.

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