[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 184 (Wednesday, December 9, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H14379]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            STUPAK AMENDMENT

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in objection to the Stupak-Pitts 
amendment that was added to our Affordable Health Care for America Act 
1 month ago. It represents an overreach that denies women the right to 
buy abortion coverage with their own money. It will eventually deny all 
but the wealthiest women in America access to reproductive choice.
  Were it up to me and many of my colleagues on both sides of this 
issue, abortion would never have intruded into our health care debate 
like this. But sadly, the Conference of Catholic Bishops had other 
ideas. They chose to hold comprehensive health care reform hostage to 
the abortion issue. They lobbied for this legislation in a manner that 
was unbecoming to our faith, and in doing so, they failed their 
obligation to help the poor and heal the sick.
  Nonetheless, I'm heartened to see that, yesterday, our colleagues in 
the other body rejected a similarly overreaching amendment. I hope that 
we will get back to a common ground approach when it returns from 
conference. America's women need a health care bill that ends 
discrimination against them, not encodes it ever further into our 
system of law.

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