[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 16 (Tuesday, January 27, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E155]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  THE 36TH ANNIVERSARY OF ROE V. WADE

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 27, 2009

  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Madam Speaker, I rise in honor of the 
recent 36th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade.
  Citing the constitutional right to privacy, the decision recognized 
women's equal standing with men to make decisions about their own 
bodies, and constituted a landmark step forward in the ongoing fight 
for gender equality.
  Roe has advanced both the health care and human rights of women 
throughout America. It stands for the simple premise that government 
should not, and cannot, tell a person what to do with his or her own 
body.
  As a proud cosponsor of the Prevention First Act, I certainly 
recognize that the term ``pro-choice'' is not synonymous with ``pro-
abortion.''
  Instead, to me, the right to choose is the right of a woman to make 
her own decisions about her health and future, free of coercion, based 
on medically-accurate information, and with access to all reproductive 
health options.
  Roe has provided us a legal foundation upon which to build a 
framework of reproductive health options for women. Our responsibility, 
as we celebrate the decision's anniversary, is to make sure we honor 
the tradition of that decision by assuring that women and families 
throughout this great country have access to family planning and 
reproductive health options so that never again do women have to 
retreat to alleyways and dark corners to receive proper medical care.
  Madam Speaker, January 22, 1973 marks a landmark day in our nation's 
constitutional history--for women, for health, and for individual 
liberty.

                          ____________________