[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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