[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 36 (Tuesday, March 6, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H1160]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH AND A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO CHOOSE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Richardson) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. RICHARDSON. In this month of March, as we celebrate Women's 
History Month, I would like to take a moment to recognize some of our 
great female leaders who, throughout history, have persevered in the 
face of monumental opposition and successfully have accomplished great 
things on behalf of the American people.
  From the words of the great poet, Maya Angelou, from the beautiful 
singing voice of Marian Anderson, from the tireless activism of Dolores 
Huerta, to the groundbreaking leadership of Secretary of State Hillary 
Clinton, Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, and, of course, our own 
Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, these women and many more have played 
an integral role in the history in this Nation.
  Madam Speaker, every day, women take great strides to help others and 
to improve the quality of life for everyone. Unfortunately, in matters 
involving health care, women are still facing these challenges. Whether 
it's on the Senate floor last week during a debate on the Blunt 
amendment or whether it's during a House Committee on Oversight and 
Government Reform hearing, women continue to face unwarranted attacks 
on their reproductive health rights and their access to contraceptives.
  More disconcerting, these debates and veiled attacks have escalated 
beyond misguided attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Now 
they've taken aim at restricting women's choices in the area of 
reproductive health altogether. This is wrong. Medical decisions about 
a woman's health must leave the political arena and be left to the 
discretion of the patient and their doctor, not employers, and 
certainly not the government.
  It is astonishing and disappointing that more than 50 years after the 
landmark Supreme Court decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, a decision 
which found that women have a constitutional right to use 
contraceptives, continued attacks on women's rights of privacy and 
health care still persist, and at an alarming rate.
  The American people want us to work towards addressing their top 
priority: creating jobs, not their reproductive rights. However, this 
Congress seems to be more focused on bringing forward legislation that 
targets women's access to basic health care. In this Congress alone, 
we've taken eight votes on antiwomen health legislation.
  A 2011 Guttmacher Institute study found that over 90 percent of 
women, and over 90 percent of Catholic women, between the ages of 15 
and 44 have used some sort of birth control at some point during their 
lives. Birth control can cost up to $600 a year. So for a college 
student, a woman who's had multiple children and is still in 
childbearing years, low-income women or those who are underinsured, 
insurance coverage means the difference between accessing contraceptive 
services or not.

                              {time}  1040

  Quite simply, Madam Speaker, all women should have the choice and 
access to contraception and have the resources no matter where they 
work, where they live, or where they go to college. This is why I'm 
proud to support President Obama's Affordable Care Act, which I voted 
on, which will make a positive impact on women and children in their 
access to health care and greatly decrease the number of women and 
their families who are uninsured or underinsured.
  Studies have shown that women who have health insurance don't always 
receive the medical care they need because their policies don't cover 
certain services or the women simply can't afford the high deductibles 
and copayments. The Affordable Care Act changes this unfortunate 
reality by assisting women in gaining access to basic preventive health 
care in order to prevent life-threatening diseases in the future.
  Our country is facing great challenges. People need jobs. Students 
need affordable education. Seniors and working families need affordable 
health care. But one thing we don't need is to continue to waste time 
debating extreme legislation that is dangerous to women's health, 
disrespects the judgment of American women, and is nothing less than 
the most comprehensive and radical assault on women's health in our 
lifetime.
  Madam Speaker, as people all over America pay tribute during the 
month of March to the generations of women who have committed to 
progress and have proved invaluable assets to our society, let us in 
Congress renew our commitment to support women--not with certificates 
at banquets, but by working to ensure equal treatment of all women in 
society, providing women with equal access to health care, and 
protecting women's rights, and their families, to choose once and for 
all their own health care.

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