[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 32 (Monday, February 29, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1068-S1069]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WOMEN'S RIGHT TO HEALTH CARE
Mr. BROWN. Madam President, this week the Supreme Court--which is
lacking a ninth Justice for the foreseeable future for reasons that
most of the American public doesn't understand since my fellow
Senators--my Republican colleagues--simply refuse to do their job--will
hear arguments on yet another case that threatens women's right to
health care. The case the Supreme Court will hear on Wednesday--Whole
Women's Health v. Hellerstedt--originated in Texas, but, as all Supreme
Court cases do, this case has implications for the entire country. It
is part of a sustained, coordinated attack on women's right to make
personal, private health care decisions for themselves. It is Big
Government reaching into women's homes and bedrooms, getting between
the women and their health care providers, between the women and their
religious counselors; it is reaching into women's homes, telling women
that they no longer have the right to make personal, private health
care decisions for themselves and to access safe and affordable care.
If the Court rules in favor of the Texas law, which has closed health
clinics across the State--imagine that. You are a legislator taking an
oath of office in Austin, TX, to do the best you can for your State,
and you pass legislation that closes health clinics not for financial
reasons but for ideological reasons. So if the Court rules in favor of
this Texas law, which, as I said, closes health clinics across the
State, it will set a dangerous precedent that could lead to more clinic
closures across this country. My interest is especially Ohio. Ohio will
be weakened by this too.
These clinics are often the only place women and men have to turn for
their basic health services. Most of the health care women are getting
at these clinics has nothing to do with abortions, but it is the kind
of care that women need in these clinics. Millions of women rely on
Planned Parenthood and other clinics like it for lifesaving screenings,
for testing, for preventive care, and for treatment.
In Ohio, Planned Parenthood centers provide health care services to
100,000 men and women each year. Many of them have nowhere else to
turn. Many of them are moderate-income women. Many of them are women
working two jobs. Many of them go to Planned Parenthood because, first,
it gives good care; second, it takes care of them in kind, decent,
empathetic ways; and third, it is what they can afford. They either
cannot afford health care elsewhere or they live too far away to have
access to health care.
A new law in Ohio threatens that access. The bill was passed by the
Ohio Legislature and signed by Governor Kasich--that is Governor Kasich
of Presidential primary fame, Presidential Republican debate fame. The
bill, which was signed by Governor Kasich a week ago, will strip
Federal funding not only from Planned Parenthood--why they would want
to do that is all about ideology and playing to their far-right
political base--will strip Federal funding not only from Planned
Parenthood but any health care facility that could be perceived as
``promoting'' safe and legal abortion. But these health care clinics
are mostly not about abortion; they are about providing health care to
women--mostly to women. This includes health clinics that simply work
with other providers to refer women to other facilities so that women
can make decisions that should be between them and their doctors.
Now, I repeat, so many of my colleagues love to talk about Big
Government, but when Big Government--mostly a bunch of privileged--if I
may, privileged, White men on the other side of the aisle, mostly--when
they want to inject themselves between women and their doctors, between
women and their families, between women and their religious counselors,
it strikes me as--let's just say hypocritical.
We are talking about a rule that is far, far more sweeping than just
defunding--that is what they like to say, ``defunding''--Planned
Parenthood.
If you are watching the Republican debates week after week, even when
they sound like food fights, which it did last week--when you are
watching these debates, you can see that whenever one of these White,
privileged men--candidates running for President and one other
privileged African-American man running for President on the Republican
side--whenever they say ``defund Planned Parenthood,'' the crowd goes
wild. They play to that base to defund Planned Parenthood, that base
that for whatever reason, with their ideological agenda, doesn't seem
to care much about women's health.
Let's be clear. This isn't about defunding abortion. The Federal
Government doesn't provide funding for abortion, period. I will say
that again. The Federal Government does not provide funding for
abortion, period.
Health officials in Ohio--health officials that play it straight,
which is 99-point-something percent of providers--real doctors, real
health providers, real health care officials are scared that the new
law could take funding away from local health departments, if we can
imagine that. The director of public health policy in Columbus--the
State's capital--told the Columbus Dispatch that the law would have a
``significant impact'' on their department's ability to coordinate with
hospitals and insurance companies.
[[Page S1069]]
So stand back for a second and see what they are doing. A bunch of
rightwing, privileged, mostly White men in the legislature have decided
that their political agenda trumps everything else, and they are
willing to follow their--so that they can play to their far-right base,
they are willing to jeopardize women's health. They are willing to go
right up against what the Columbus Dispatch says--few papers in America
are more conservative--when they talk about a significant impact on the
department's ability to coordinate with hospitals and insurance
companies. Why would they do that? They do it because they are playing
to this far-right base who votes overwhelmingly in primaries.
The director said that because the bill is so broadly written, ``we
wouldn't be able to work with any hospital in our jurisdiction.''
This Ohio law explicitly targets critical health and health education
services for women. Don't take my word for it; all you have to do is
read the bill. This chart shows that it prohibits Ohio clinics and
hospitals from using Federal dollars--and I am quoting directly from
the bill--for any of the programs established by the Violence Against
Women Act, the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative, the Infertility Prevention
Project, the Personal Responsibility Education Program, and the Breast
and Cervical Cancer Mortality Prevention Act. Think about that--the
Mortality Prevention Act. This bill prohibits Ohio clinics and
hospitals from using Federal dollars to implement these laws.
It means no Federal dollars for the program administered by the
Administration for Children and Families in the Department of Health
and Human Services to educate adolescents on abstinence and
contraception for the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted
diseases. So this legislation that Governor Kasich signed that these
privileged, mostly White men in the State legislature--politically far
to the right, the majority of the State legislature--the bill they
passed and Governor Kasich signed would mean that we wouldn't be able
to use the Federal dollars we have to educate adolescents on abstinence
and contraception for the prevention of pregnancy and sexually
transmitted infections.
So what are they doing? The extremists on the other side are saying
no Federal dollars for abortion. There aren't Federal dollars for
abortion. But they are saying no Federal dollars to preach abstinence
and to educate young people about abstinence and sexually transmitted
diseases. So what are they doing and why are they doing this to the
women in Ohio?
This law bars women from accessing cancer screenings, fertility
services, AIDS prevention, and help coping with abuse and violence. Do
these far-right members of the legislature know no low-income or
moderate-income young women? Do they know no teenagers, no female
teenagers and young male teenagers, too, who maybe could benefit from
some of these programs, including abstinence education, learning about
contraceptives, and learning about how sexually transmitted diseases
are in fact transmitted?
I support a woman's right to make personal, private health care
decisions for herself with her doctor. But no matter your personal
feelings about abortion, surely we can agree--although the legislature
can't in my State--surely we can agree that cancer screenings and
programs that have helped bring Ohio's teen pregnancy and STD rates
down are a good thing.
I would say that Ohio right now--and this is embarrassing for me to
say on the Senate floor in front of colleagues--my State is 50th for
Black babies and infant mortality and 47th overall in infant mortality.
We are 47th overall, 50th for Black infant mortality.
The legislature underfunds public health, and they then undercut--
because of this legislature's action with Governor Kasich's signature--
they undercut the Violence Against Women Act, they undercut minority
HIV and AIDS education, they undercut the personal responsibility
education program, they undercut breast and cervical cancer mortality
prevention, and they undercut infertility prevention projects. I just
don't get it.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator's time has expired.
Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent for an additional
5 minutes.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. BROWN. A woman in New Carlisle wrote to me saying:
There was a time when I could not find full-time
employment, I did not have health insurance, and I also was
not eligible for any assistance from the government. My
husband and I were newly married and trying to build a
responsible life together.
I was 21. I had a family history of breast cancer and
ovarian cancer, so access to healthcare was crucial for me.
Planned Parenthood was the only place that would help me look
after my health and plan my own family and lifestyle in a way
that I could afford.
Another woman went on to say: ``Planned Parenthood made an
impoverished young woman feel safe and comfortable and valued.''
Another woman in Boardman, OH, wrote: ``Along with many other women,
I was treated at Planned Parenthood, and I received a referral to a
specialist, which saved my reproduction.''
Another woman wrote saying that she had a child at 13 and gave up the
child for adoption. After that she made the choice to get educated
about family planning and birth control. She couldn't afford to go to a
family doctor, so Planned Parenthood was where she turned to make sure
she never had to go through that experience again.
A young woman from Columbus told the Canton Repository newspaper that
while she was speaking at the statehouse. Half of the lawmakers looked
like they were about to fall asleep. Many were looking at their cell
phones. They didn't want to listen to a young, low-income woman talk
about her personal life and what Planned Parenthood meant to her.
What is happening is not all that different in Ohio than across the
country. There is an organized attack on women's rights to make health
care decisions for themselves. It is not about health or safety. Look
at these examples. It is about politicians thinking they know better
than women and their doctors. It is happening as we speak. These so-
called TRAP laws in Ohio and in dozens of other States have created
gaps in care that threaten women's ability to see the providers of
their choice.
Health clinics in Texas have shut their doors. If the Supreme Court
upholds the Texas law being challenged, the remaining clinics in the
State may be forced to turn their patients away for good.
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