[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 23, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2868-S2869]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Women's Healthcare

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I hope that one day soon it will not be 
necessary to come to the floor of this Senate and shine a spotlight on 
how the Trump administration is making it harder and harder for women 
in America to get the healthcare they need and deserve. It seems like 
not a week goes by without the Trump administration full-on attacking 
women's healthcare. It is the agenda of what I call healthcare 
discrimination, and it is out in full force.
  The latest news came out officially less than 24 hours ago. The Trump 
administration has put itself right in the middle of women and their 
doctors, denying access to critical information that millions of women 
rely on from physicians and nurses--the very providers they trust and 
depend on. What this means is that across this country you can say 
good-bye to the guarantee that women are getting the whole story about 
their health and the options they have for their care. For millions of 
women, the healthcare they need is going to have to get a Trump stamp 
of approval, and that Trump stamp of approval is going to be the 
requirement to get the care they need.
  I just want to say to my colleagues here in the Senate that I think 
this alone makes a mockery of all the talk I remember hearing from 
Republican colleagues in this body who said there is going to be 
patient-centered care in

[[Page S2869]]

America. The developments in the last 24 hours basically say that with 
respect to healthcare, it is not going to be patient-centered care, but 
it is going to be politics-centered care.
  Now, that patient-centered care concept was one of the most common 
talking points I remember hearing again and again. We heard it in the 
Finance Committee, where I have the honor to be the ranking Democrat. 
We heard it again and again: We are going to have patient-centered 
care. It was part of the crusade to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The 
whole point of that patient-centered care slogan was to say that the 
government shouldn't come between patients and their doctors and that 
it wasn't going to be about politics; it was going to be about 
patients--making sure that politics and the government didn't come 
between patients and their doctors.

  So here we are now, a few months later, and the Trump administration 
has just decided point-blank that it will decide what is best for women 
in Oregon and across the country. They basically said that they ought 
to be able to gag doctors and deny women the right to hear about 
healthcare options that, fortunately, are perfectly legal in America 
today.
  The fact is, this new decree--this dictate--from the Trump 
administration comes with a battery of new restrictions on healthcare 
clinics that millions of women depend on every single day. We all know 
what it is about. It is an attack on Planned Parenthood. It is an 
attack on vital sources of care for women.
  As I have said on this floor--I have gone through it again and 
again--the vast amount of work done by Planned Parenthood has nothing 
to do with abortion. It is all about vital preventive services for 
women, which, by the way, are especially important in rural areas.
  I am sure we are going to be talking about women's healthcare 
tomorrow in the Senate Finance Committee, where we will be having a 
hearing specifically on rural healthcare. There is bipartisan interest 
in that topic, but I want colleagues to know, it is pretty hard to 
promote all of the opportunities for sound healthcare and 
bipartisanship when you have a decision from the Trump administration 
that has the potential to hit women's healthcare in rural communities 
like a wrecking ball.
  In States like Oregon, thousands of women live in communities where 
there is not a clinic or a doctor's office every few miles. If the 
Trump administration finds a backdoor way to shutter the few options 
these women have today, they may not have anywhere else to turn to get 
the essentials of healthcare. Women could lose the right to see the 
doctor of their choosing.
  I will just say it point-blank: If somebody wants to take away the 
right of women in America to see the doctors and the providers of their 
choice, they are going to have to run over me. I will tell you, I think 
women are going to win that fight.
  To have women lose access to lifesaving services like cancer 
screenings, routine physicals, birth control, prenatal care, and so 
much more--that ought to be off the table for politics. It shouldn't be 
about Democrats and Republicans; it should be about commonsense 
approaches to ensure that women have all of the options for the 
healthcare they want and deserve.
  Taking healthcare choices away from women is fundamentally wrong. 
Depriving women of essential healthcare information that they have 
every right to hear about is fundamentally wrong. The Trump 
administration putting itself between women and their doctors is 
fundamentally wrong.
  The decision that came down last night, which we learned about last 
night, is a reckless one. It is a harmful one. We ought to make no 
mistake about it, it is going to make healthcare worse for women across 
the country.
  I have now had to say it too many times to count: It is long past 
time for these attacks on women's healthcare to end. I hope it will not 
be necessary to come to this floor again.
  The Trump administration will see how flawed the decision--the 
dictate--that came down last night is and will retract it. But until 
they do, I will come to this floor and make the case for ensuring that 
women are empowered in our country to be able to see the healthcare 
providers of their choice, to have the opportunity to access the vast 
array of services that are largely preventive from sea to shining sea.
  I yield the floor.
  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. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.