[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 110 (Tuesday, July 15, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4463-S4467]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NOT MY BOSS'S BUSINESS ACT
Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the
repercussions of the Supreme Court's misguided Hobby Lobby decision
which allows employers to refuse to cover contraception as a part of
their employees' health plans under the false pretense that
corporations can not only have religious beliefs but they can impose
those beliefs on their employees.
Several days ago I was home in the great State of Colorado. I stood
shoulder to shoulder with experts in women's health care who joined me
to highlight how the Hobby Lobby decision is already negatively
affecting women in our State.
One Denver-based OB-GYN explained how physicians might now have to
consider an employer's religious beliefs when making medical
recommendations. She said the Court's decision fundamentally interferes
with health care decisions that should be based solely on a patient's
well-being.
Because of the Supreme Court's 5-to-4 decision, women across America
are now facing the uncertainty that their bosses may restrict the
health care benefits Federal law currently secures for them.
Birth control has been deemed an essential preventive health service
by a nonpartisan independent group of doctors and other medical
experts. Ninety-nine percent of American women have used birth control
at some point in their lives. They use it for a variety of health
reasons. In fact, just hours after Senator Murray and I introduced
legislation in response to the Hobby Lobby decision, a Colorado mother
called my office to share the story of how her college-age daughter was
suffering from a health condition that was so debilitating that it kept
her from attending class or really participating in any activities at
school. As a result, her doctor prescribed a form of birth control that
ended up managing her symptoms and getting her back on track. This
Colorado mother wanted to make sure I knew that access to contraception
is not just about birth control and that if her employer took away the
contraception coverage in her family's health plan, her daughter would
not have coverage for a medically necessary treatment.
Regardless of why women take birth control, none of those reasons
have any connection to how they do their jobs. Their bosses have no
business interfering in those decisions. But with the Court's ruling in
Hobby Lobby, corporations and CEOs have been handed
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the right to play the role of gatekeeper for what kind of health care
employees and their families can access as a part of their health
insurance plan. That is not acceptable to Coloradans.
I have heard the arguments from those who say the Supreme Court's
decision narrowly protects religious freedom. I think we can all agree
that where religious freedoms are being threatened, we as Americans
have a duty to act swiftly to address it. But the fact is that actual
religious institutions are already exempt from requirements that run
contrary to their beliefs. Remember, the men and women who went to work
for Hobby Lobby signed up to work at a craft store, not a religious
organization.
This decision, in the words of Justice Ginsburg, is one of startling
breadth. In the Hobby Lobby majority opinion, the Supreme Court said
its decision only applied to ``closely held'' corporations, but up to
90 percent of American companies are considered closely held and over
half of Americans work for a closely held company. To call this
decision ``narrow'' is as wrong as the reasoning behind it.
Contrary to what supporters of the decision are saying, this is just
not about contraceptives. We have been warned by legal experts,
including Justice Ginsburg and the other three Justices who joined in
her dissent, that this decision could lead to employers discriminating
against women, minority groups, and others because a company's owner
may object to any number of medications or procedures, such as vaccines
or HIV treatment.
Just over 2 short weeks ago, before the Hobby Lobby decision, workers
knew exactly what health services they had access to under their health
plans. They did not need to be labor lawyers to figure out which
benefits they would receive, which benefits they might be at risk of
losing, or how much more they would have to pay out of pocket for
prescription drugs or other critical health treatments. However, with
the Hobby Lobby case, that has all changed.
Supporters of the Hobby Lobby decision want women to believe this is
not a big deal. But let me be clear. This has the potential to change
health coverage for millions of women. I am not--along with millions of
Americans--going to stand for this kind of discrimination. I trust
women to make their own health care decisions. I do not believe their
employers should have a say in that. Through their hard work and
insurance premiums, women have earned and already paid for coverage
that includes copay-free contraception under Federal law. Health
insurance is a part of their compensation packages. There is nothing
free about it; they have earned it.
Not only does this case wedge bosses into private health care
decisions, it unfairly burdens hard-working women, ignoring the fact
that contraception can be crucial to women and families' economic
success. The ability to decide when, how, and with whom to have a
family is critical to the health and economic security of women and
their families.
The Supreme Court even stated this in its opinion in Planned
Parenthood v. Casey in 1992. I wish to quote the Supreme Court from
1992:
The ability of women to participate equally in the economic
and social life of the Nation has been facilitated by their
ability to control their reproductive lives.
That is what the Court said in 1992.
Today many employees are left wondering if that economic freedom is
in jeopardy. Women are left to ask their bosses whether they will
continue to cover their birth control--a topic of conversation which
women should never be forced to bring up at work, an issue which is
certainly not a boss's business.
Throughout my time in Congress I have long believed we all have the
fundamental right to live our lives as we choose, free from needless
intrusion, whether by the government, by bureaucrats, or by
corporations and CEOs, and certainly free from intrusion by
politicians. Indeed, a women should be free to make her own health
decisions based on what is right for her and her family, not according
to her employer's religious beliefs.
So the reason I am standing here today is to make very clear that
this type of intrusion will not stand. I am proud to lead the effort
with Senator Murray to ensure that employers cannot refuse to cover
health services guaranteed to women under Federal law.
Our bill, the Protect Women's Health From Corporate Interference Act,
would restore a woman's power to make personal health care decisions
based on what is best for her and her family, free from corporate
interference. I invite my colleagues of both parties to join this
effort, and I thank my colleagues who will stand with Senator Murray
and me this week to say: Women's health care is not your boss's
business.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I come to the floor to join with the
senior Senator from Colorado, and I thank him for his excellent
statement and leadership on this issue as we kick off this important
debate on our bill, the Protect Women's Health From Corporate
Interference Act, or, as we just heard, the ``Not My Boss's Business
Act.''
I start off by asking our colleagues a few basic questions: First of
all, who should be in charge of a woman's health care decisions? Should
it be the woman making those decisions with her partner, her doctor,
and her faith or should it be her boss making those decisions for her
based on his own religious beliefs?
To me and to the vast majority of the people across the country, the
answer to that question is obvious: Women should call the shots when it
comes to their health care decisions--not their boss, not the
government, not anyone else, period. But we are here because five men
on the Supreme Court disagreed.
Five men on the Supreme Court decided there should be a group of
women across America who are required to ask their boss for permission
to access basic health care. Five men on the Supreme Court decided a
corporation should have more rights than the women it employs. Five men
on the Supreme Court rolled back the clock on women across America, and
we are here today because we cannot allow that to stand. People across
the country think the Supreme Court was dead wrong on this decision,
and we are here to be their voice.
When we passed health care reform, we made sure every woman has
access to basic health care, including contraception, which is used or
will be used by 99 percent of the women in this country. When 58
percent of women use birth control for purposes other than pregnancy
prevention--including managing endometriosis, ovarian cysts, and other
medical conditions--we know this provision could have a sweeping impact
on women across our country. In fact, according to the Department of
Health and Human Services, 30 million women nationally are already
eligible for this benefit, and when the law is fully implemented, 47
million women nationally will have access to no-pay birth control,
thanks to the Affordable Care Act. By the way, thanks to this benefit,
women have already saved $483 million, and that is just in the last
year alone.
Contraception was included as a required preventive service in the
Affordable Care Act on the recommendation of the independent nonprofit
Institute of Medicine and other medical experts because it is essential
to the health of women and families. After many years of research, we
know ensuring access to effective birth control has a direct impact on
improving the lives of women and their families in America. It is
directly linked to declines in maternal and infant mortality, to
reduced risk of ovarian cancer, to better health outcomes for women
and, by the way, far fewer unintended pregnancies and abortions, which
is a goal we all should share.
We should all know improving access to birth control is a good health
care policy and it is good economic policy. We know it will mean
healthier women, healthier children, and healthier families, and we
know it will save money for businesses and consumers. But with their
ruling, setting a potential dangerous precedent, the Supreme Court has
not only inserted a woman's boss into her health care decisions, in
many cases they have given him the final word.
In the aftermath of this decision, women across America are turning
to
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Congress and demanding we fix this. And by the way it is not just women
who want Congress to act. People across the country understand, if
bosses can deny birth control, then they can deny vaccines or HIV
treatment or other basic health care services for employees and for
their dependents. I think what men across America understand is it is
not just the female employees who are impacted, it is their wives and
their daughters who are on their health care plan as well.
As the ink was still drying on Justice Alito's misguided opinion in
this case, I made an unwavering commitment to do everything I could to
protect women's access to health care since the five male Justices of
the Supreme Court decided they would not. That is why I have been
working with my partner, the senior Senator from Colorado, to introduce
this bill, and I am proud that in the many days since then we have
received such strong support from people across the country.
Our straightforward and simple legislation will ensure that no CEO or
corporation can come between people and their guaranteed access to
health care, period.
This shouldn't be a controversial issue. The only controversy about
birth control is the fact that it is 2014 and women across America are
still fighting for this basic health care.
The data is clear. Ensuring access to contraceptive coverage isn't
just the right thing to do, it is a critical part of making sure women
and their families have a fair shot. In the 21st century, women and
their families shouldn't be held back by outdated policies and unfair
practices.
Again, it is not just about access to contraception. This includes
pay equity, access to childcare, higher minimum wage, and it absolutely
includes the right to make their own medical and religious decisions
without being dictated to or limited by their employer.
The bottom line is this: Women use birth control for a host of
reasons, none of which should require a permission slip from their
boss.
I thank Leader Reid for moving this bill to the floor so quickly and
for his commitment to getting this done because women across the
country are expecting action. They do not want to wait. As we move
forward on this bill this week, I hope enough Republicans can put
proven science over their partisan politics and join us and revoke this
Court-issued license to discriminate and return the right of Americans
to make their own decisions about their own health care and their own
bodies.
I thank Senator Udall once again for his work with me on this
commonsense and bicameral legislation. I also thank the Members of the
House Pro-Choice Caucus who introduced their companion legislation in
the House, and I sincerely hope our Republican colleagues on both sides
of the Capitol will join us. For those who don't, for those Republicans
who have already said they oppose our legislation, I am interested in
hearing their answer to the question I posed a few minutes ago: Do they
think bosses should be in charge of a woman's health care decision? Do
they think women should have to ask their boss permission for health
care used by 99 percent of the women? Do they think we as a country
should start down the path where CEOs and corporations can start making
decisions for all kinds of health care for their employees?
Women across the country will be watching this debate, and I think
they will be very interested in seeing who is on their side.
I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. BOOKER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Murray). No objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. BOOKER. Madam President, I rise to support the ``Not My Boss's
Business Act,'' which will help to fix the recent Supreme Court Hobby
Lobby decision by making it illegal for a company to deny their workers
specific health care benefits, including birth control, as is required
to be covered by Federal law.
I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this bill which is
necessary to ensure that all women have access to preventive care.
I wish to say, on a personal note, I was a young child growing up in
a household with a working mother. Mom worked for a big corporation and
worked in human resources. My table would often be one where it was
discussed that my mother was dealing with challenges of racial
discrimination, challenges of sexism in the workplace. I watched how my
mother, in human resources, would fight to make sure that we as a
nation, as well as this particular corporation, continued to advance in
fairly treating all of its employees. I was proud to watch my mother
assert her independence, her freedoms, and her basic sense of equity,
which resonates with the highest values of this Nation.
What is frustrating to me now is here we stand in 2014, and we seem
to be fighting so many battles and advancements we won before that are
still needing to be fought.
It is unthinkable to me that as we should be turning our focus toward
other things such as paid family leave or raising the minimum wage,
here we are again fighting about whether women should have the right to
have access to birth control. This is unfortunate because contraception
is essential to a woman's right to make her own personal health care
decisions. Birth control is not only basic to making health care
decisions, but it is one in which 99 percent of women avail themselves.
Throughout their lifetime we will see 99 percent of American women
avail themselves of birth control.
These women should not be forced to decide between contraception and
a tank of gas or between contraception and meals for their family,
contraception and paying rent.
The Hobby Lobby decision, if you think about it, is imposing the will
of a corporation--one corporation's board member's religious beliefs or
what-have-you can be imposed such that it would cost women who now want
to exercise their freedom up to $1,000 a year. For minimum-wage or low-
wage workers, the out-of-pocket cost for birth control each month is a
real and substantive financial burden.
Let's be clear. Workers have insurance coverage through their labor.
It is part of their earned pay. This is not a free giveaway. They
earned this coverage. What they spend their health care coverage on is
their business, not their boss's business.
I deeply value ideals of religious liberty. This is what this country
was founded on. But religious liberty belongs to all of us; it does not
belong to a corporation. Religious liberty means being free from having
other people's religions foisted upon you, imposed upon you, or forced
upon you.
Most employees would never dream of telling their bosses what they
must decide and abide by in terms of religious freedom. And by that
same principle, no boss should have the right to impose his religion on
the people who work for him.
That is one of the reasons why so many faith leaders have spoken
against the Hobby Lobby decision. It is now making it acceptable for a
corporation to impose on the individual liberty of others their
religious beliefs, also the financial freedom that goes along with
that, and also the ability for a woman to make critical health care
decisions. They might even be interfering with a doctor telling a
patient what is best for them and their health.
The views held by companies' owners should not be able to interfere
with this basic understanding of fundamental rights. The Not My Boss's
Business Act protects workers' religious liberty by not allowing their
bosses to impose this hardship, to impose their religion, and to impose
what I believe ultimately comes down to discrimination.
Finally, the precedent set by this decision could open the door wider
and wider for more court cases and more employers who want to deny more
aspects of basic health coverage and services because they claim it
conflicts with the boss's religious beliefs. From blood transfusions to
vaccinations, we are now in a minefield in which we can have the
destruction of religious freedom of employees and the health care
freedom we have fought so hard to manifest.
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The Hobby Lobby decision is a step backward that we must correct. It
is a step against women's rights. It is a step against religious
freedom. It is a step against workers who earn basic benefits to have
the ability to make those benefits real in their lives.
The Not My Boss's Business Act will make it clear that bosses cannot
discriminate. The Not My Boss's Business Act will make it clear that
there should be equal treatment under the law for the tens of thousands
of workers whose coverage now hangs in the balance.
A woman's health care decisions should be between that woman and her
doctor. There is no room for a boss's religious beliefs in that
equation, period.
I watched for decades, growing up, not only my mother but countless
people fight to establish basic principles in the workplace. We cannot
go back now. This is such a critical piece of legislation, to correct
for the mistakes in this Supreme Court decision and assert those
fundamental American ideals, that individuals should be able to make
their own health care decisions, that bosses and corporations should
not impose religious beliefs on others, and that we are a nation where
every woman can create a sacrosanct and private relationship with her
doctor and make ultimately the health care decisions that are best for
her, not ones in any way influenced or affected by a corporation.
I thank again the Senate and the Presiding Officer for this time but,
most importantly, I thank Senator Murray and other Senators who have
led on this issue. I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Booker). The Senator from California.
Mrs. BOXER. I am proud to follow my colleague from New Jersey, and I
am proud to say I am a cosponsor of Senator Murray's bill and Senator
Udall's bill, the Udall-Murray bill, that is going to make sure we
protect the health of our families.
I am going to put up a beautiful photograph of the Supreme Court
where above the portico these words are inscribed: ``Equal Justice
Under Law.'' We have reprinted them here. I am going to keep this for
the remainder of my remarks, because I think that is the essential
issue before us. Those four words are the promise of our country that
every American should be treated equally, should be respected, should
be honored.
I wish to note that these words don't say: Equal justice under law
except for women. They don't say: Equal justice under law except for
birth control. And they don't say: Equal justice under law as long as
it is OK with your boss.
The beauty of this Nation is we respect each other's rights and
freedoms, and we have shed blood to make sure those freedoms are
protected.
Yet with this Hobby Lobby ruling, five men, who happen to be
appointed by Republicans, decided that a corporation has the power to
deny me or to deny you coverage of critical health care for us and for
our families.
What is very upsetting to me is that they have seized on the
Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 to justify giving for-profit
companies the sweeping power to deny their employees access to
affordable birth control, and we believe it will prove to be other
health care benefits required under Federal law.
I speak as someone who voted for the Kennedy bill, the Religious
Freedom Restoration Act, that if anybody thinks Ted Kennedy wanted to
deny access for birth control, then they didn't know Ted Kennedy and
they didn't read at all the Record as we debated that bill.
I voted for the Religious Freedom Restoration Act because it was
written to protect an individual's freedom of religion so that if I, as
a religious individual working for a corporation, don't want to use the
birth control coverage, I don't have to. But if I want to, I make that
choice. If I, as an independent individual, want to vaccinate my child,
it is covered under law, under the insurance. I can if I want to. No
one can force me to do that.
The idea behind the Religious Freedom Restoration Act was to protect
the individual, and I quote: ``Government shall not substantially
burden a person's exercise of religion.''
Let me repeat: ``a person's exercise of religion.'' It doesn't say a
corporation's exercise of religion, your boss's exercise of his
religion. It was about protecting the individual.
What the conservative majority of the Court did 2 weeks ago turned
the Religious Freedom Restoration Act on its head. As someone who
supported that act, it made me angry, sad--put in the adjective. It is
wrong to reinterpret what a law meant. It stood the Religious Freedom
Restoration Act on its head when they ruled a corporation can put its
own ideology ahead of the religious freedom and health care needs of
its employees.
A female employee should be able to decide whether to use birth
control. And that is not all that is at stake after the Hobby Lobby
decision, because we know if you follow their logic that if a
corporation can deny birth control because of a religious objection,
what if they object to a blood transfusion? There are certain religions
that do. Then the employee can't get a blood transfusion. And what if
they object to a vaccine or HIV treatment? Then, in order for employees
to have access to those treatments, they wouldn't have the insurance.
We all know, from looking at the real world, if you don't have
insurance, these treatments become very expensive and you may not be
able to avail yourselves of them.
Chief Justice John Roberts, during oral arguments in the Hobby Lobby
case, made it clear that Congress can fix this and override the Court's
decision, and I agree. That is why I am so thankful to Senator Murray
and Senator Udall for working so hard and so fast so we can have the
remedy right now. It is important that we act fast. People are very
confused out there as to what they can count on in their insurance
coverage.
We are going to have a vote on this tomorrow. It is a cloture vote to
end debate so we can actually get to a vote on the substance. Sadly, it
means we need 60 votes, a supermajority. But I hope and frankly pray
that we get those 60 votes because we need to protect women's health.
The Murray-Udall bill is called the Protect Women's Health from
Corporate Interference Act, but they have nicknamed it Not My Boss's
Business Act, which I like. It is not my boss's business what I decide
to do.
It would require employers to follow the Federal law when offering
health insurance to their employees, notwithstanding the Religious
Freedom Restoration Act which, as I said, I believe the Court stood on
its head. It was meant to protect individuals, not corporations, not
your boss.
The bill says corporations cannot hide behind the Religious Freedom
Restoration Act to deny their workers coverage to the benefits we have
in law. More than 180 House and Senate lawmakers have cosponsored this
bill so far, and I hope our colleagues will vote for it.
I was saying we need to act fast because there is confusion out
there. Virtually so many women rely on birth control at some point in
their lives, it is amazing. Sixty percent of women who take birth
control, 6.5 million American women, do so in whole or in part to treat
painful and difficult medical conditions.
Let me say that again. One may take a birth control pill for birth
control, but there are many other uses for that pill; 1.5 million women
out of the 6.5 million who use it, at least in part for other
conditions, use it solely as a medication to treat those painful and
difficult conditions.
By allowing employers to deny coverage for contraception, the Court
is depriving many women and families of health care. Surveys have shown
that 55 percent of young women, aged 18 to 34, struggle to afford birth
control, which can cost as much as $600 per year. Maybe the Supreme
Court Justices in their ivory tower think that is not a lot of money,
but let me state, for women working the minimum wage, even for women
earning more than the minimum wage, it is quite a hit to their
pocketbooks.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg pointed out in her dissent that a woman earning
the minimum wage would spend nearly an entire month's wage to get an
IUD, $1,000. Imagine. This case has unjustly singled out women's health
services.
I have to make a note here. I do not know of any employer that is
dropping coverage for Viagra. I don't. I have
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asked around. I have been on TV, I have invited folks to let me know.
Oh, no, Viagra is fine; birth control is not fine. Just put the pieces
together yourself. I think this decision discriminates against women,
and in the slippery slope argument you are going to see it affect
everyone. And we need to listen to the women who rely on birth control
to improve their health and the health of their families. Let me tell
you a few stories. Raquel from Sacramento was diagnosed with non-
Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2010. After her treatment her doctors told her
she needed to use birth control to ensure she did not become pregnant
for the next 3 years because she was really sick. Luckily, her employer
covers birth control and now, happily, 4 years later she is pregnant
with her first child. What could have happened to her if she had gone
through an unintended pregnancy? It could have been pretty devastating.
What if she had worked for a different employer who refused to offer
her that birth control? Her health and the health of her child would
have been at risk and that would have been tragic. So let's listen to
her.
Let's listen to Katherine from Pleasant Hill, CA, who relies on birth
control after having her first child.
Both my husband and I want to be the best possible parents
for our son, and having another child so soon would hurt our
ability to do that. A variety of affordable birth control
options are crucial for me and for all first-time moms like
me!
Many years ago I was on the board of Planned Parenthood, and what we
said all the time was that our dream was that every child be a wanted
child--a wanted child. As a parent myself and as a grandparent I tell
you right now it takes a lot to raise a child. Hillary Clinton said it
takes a village. It certainly takes loving parents, and it takes a
loving family. It certainly costs money, and it certainly takes energy.
We want our families to be healthy. We want our families to be
productive, and birth control is a success story. It breaks my heart
that women just like Katherine who work at Hobby Lobby and other for-
profit corporations now could be denied access to affordable health
care unless we fix this.
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act was not about giving your boss
the power over you like this. It was about giving you the right to make
your own choices and decisions. We need to listen to women like Ariana
in Redding, CA, who wrote:
I am a recent college graduate trying to make ends meet and
pay off my student loans. It is a great relief to know I can
get the birth control I need without a copay.
These are real stories. If the boss doesn't like that you choose
birth control, that is his right. If he wants to sit down with his
daughter and tell her his religious objection, and if she agrees with
him, that is fine. I mean, that is what America is about. But don't
take your religious beliefs, your ideology, your biases, your
prejudices, and your opinions and foist them on your employees. That is
not this country. That is not what we are about.
Shouldn't we care more about the rights of women and their families
than the rights of a few employers who can exercise that in their
families? This bill we are going to vote on is critical, and I hope it
won't die as a result of partisanship. We have to rise above
partisanship around here.
``Equal justice under law''--that is what it says over the portico.
And frankly, there is another issue. If you look at what has happened
to the rates of abortion since we have seen more use of birth control,
they are going down. There has been a study in one of our Nation's big
cities that proved that because there was broad use of birth control,
abortions went down by 50 percent. Imagine. So if that is our concern
regardless of whether we are pro-choice or not, we shouldn't be
embracing decisions that make it more difficult for women to get access
to birth control.
So equal justice under the law doesn't say: ``except for women.'' It
doesn't say: ``except if my boss disagrees with me.'' It is pretty
beautiful. It is pretty clear. It is something that we have to respect.
It is for the ages, and tomorrow we are going to see if our colleagues
agree. Every Senator must take a stand tomorrow for individual liberty.
When we vote tomorrow, let's be reminded: Women are watching. The
American people will hold each of us accountable if we fail to protect
their rights and their ability to decide what is best for their
families.
I have been around a while. I was around when one of the Bushes was
actually on the board of Planned Parenthood--George Herbert Walker
Bush. Suddenly this issue is back--birth control--and suddenly we are
arguing over it again.
So I say this. I may be wearing a white jacket, but it is not a white
doctor's coat. I am not a doctor, and I don't want to put myself, as a
politician, in between a woman and her doctor or in between a family
and their doctor. Let's leave important health care choices where they
belong: with women, with families, with doctors, and not with
politicians, in the Senate or Justices sitting in a courtroom.
Thank you very much. I yield the floor.
____________________