[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 30 (Thursday, February 25, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S1029]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      WOMEN'S REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, next week the Supreme Court is going to 
hear oral arguments in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt. This is a 
case that could not mean more to a woman's ability to exercise her 
constitutionally protected health care rights. As this case now moves 
forward, I want to take a few minutes today to explain how much is at 
stake and why it is so critical that Texas's extreme anti-abortion law 
be treated as exactly what it is: unconstitutional.
  Madam President, in Texas and across the country, extreme rightwing 
conservatives continue to try and turn back the clock on American 
women. Just yesterday, the Fifth Circuit allowed a Louisiana law to go 
into effect. That law would leave women with only one health center 
where they can exercise their reproductive rights.
  This debate is frustrating, it is disappointing, and, frankly, it is 
appalling that in the 21st century--43 years since the historic ruling 
in Roe v. Wade--we even have to have a discussion about whether a woman 
has the right to make her own decisions about her own body. But one 
thing that has always kept me going is seeing that when their health 
and their rights and their opportunities are at stake, women stand up 
and make it clear why reproductive freedom is so important.
  As we have fought back against Texas's extreme anti-abortion law, 
women have explained that because they were able to plan when they had 
children, they were able to escape abusive relationships. They have 
told us that because they had control over their own bodies, they were 
able to break cycles of poverty generations long and give back to their 
communities. They have shared their experiences of making the 
extraordinarily difficult decision to end a pregnancy out of medical 
necessity. These are powerful stories about the difference self-
determination makes for women. These stories are possible because of 
constitutional rights affirmed in Roe v. Wade and protected in Planned 
Parenthood v. Casey.
  If Texas's extreme anti-abortion law stands, three-quarters of 
clinics in the State are expected to shut down--three-quarters of them. 
As a result, 900,000 women of childbearing age in Texas will have to 
drive as far as 300 miles round trip just to get the care they need. 
And women in States with laws like Texas will face similar barriers.
  I believe strongly that a right means nothing without the ability to 
exercise that right. Laws like those in Texas and Louisiana, which are 
driven by extreme conservative efforts to undermine women's access to 
care, are, without question, getting in between women and their 
constitutional rights, especially the rights of women who cannot afford 
to take off work and drive hundreds of miles when they need health 
care.
  Put simply: Texas's extreme anti-abortion law and laws like it across 
the country threaten women's lives. These laws are intended to take 
women back to the days before Roe v. Wade when women had less control 
over their bodies and their futures.
  As a mother, as a grandmother, and as a U.S. Senator, I know that is 
absolutely the wrong direction for our country. Our daughters and 
granddaughters should have more opportunity and stronger rights, not 
less. That is why 163 Democratic and Independent Members of the House 
and Senate urged the Supreme Court in an amicus brief to stand up for 
women's constitutionally protected health care rights. And it is the 
reason that even some of our Republican colleagues are focused on doing 
everything they can to undermine the Supreme Court.
  My Democratic colleagues and I are focused on how much the Court's 
decision in this case will mean for women now and for generations to 
come. So instead of trying to obstruct justice, we are urging the 
Supreme Court to ensure justice by upholding settled law. For women, 
being able to exercise their constitutionally protected reproductive 
rights means health, it means freedom, and it means opportunity. We 
cannot and we should not go backward.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.

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