[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 154 (Friday, October 14, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1874]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            PROTECT LIFE ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                     HON. LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 13, 2011

  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Madam Speaker, in the last year, while 14 million 
Americans struggle to find work, Congressional Republicans have whipped 
themselves into a hysteria--not about job creation, but about further 
restricting a woman's freedom to access safe and legal reproductive 
healthcare.
  Their legislative proposals are devastating policies that threaten to 
take away freedoms of all American women. The bill proposed today, H.R. 
358, is the most brazen attempt by Congressional Republicans to destroy 
women's ability to receive private access to abortion services. Let us 
be clear. The bill today is one of the biggest invasions into the 
private lives of Americans that our nation has ever seen. With this 
bill, the Majority is reaching far beyond today's current laws and 
inserting itself into the most private and often heartrending decisions 
that women must sometimes make.
  Contrary to the Rules of the House, today's bill cites no provision 
of the Constitution, nor any amendment to the Constitution. None at 
all. Throughout the hearing process, including hearings within the 
Rules Committee upon which I sit, the bill's sponsor and supporters 
have failed to effectively answer the Constitutional authority under 
which we are considering this bill.
  One aspect of the bill is particularly illustrative of the extreme 
government intrusion this bill authorizes within its text. Under the 
Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, any hospital that 
participates in Medicare must fulfill three basic obligations designed 
to save lives. There is absolutely no exception to these basic rules.
  H.R. 358 would carve out a single exception to EMTALA. Under this 
legislation, a hospital would be able to invoke a ``conscience clause'' 
to turn away any pregnant woman who came to an emergency room seeking 
medical assistance. If this draconian provision were to become law, a 
woman could bleed to death in a hospital without being treated.
  This provision is not only a direct attack on women, it is immoral in 
its intent. Indeed, religious organizations such as the Catholic Health 
Association has explicitly told Congress that the current version of 
the law, strengthened under the Affordable Care Act, is perfectly fine, 
and that they oppose this provision of the bill.
  I stand in firm opposition to H.R. 358 and the continued assault from 
Congressional Republicans on women's freedoms. May the annals of 
history accurately reflect the misguided priorities and immoral agenda 
of the Majority, and may history accurately judge the failed leadership 
that has been provided by the Majority during the 112th Congress.

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