[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 8, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2728-S2729]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Women's Healthcare

  Ms. DUCKWORTH. Madam President, I might be the luckiest person in the 
world because I get to wake up on Sunday and spend Mother's Day, well, 
being a mom. I will probably spend the morning helping my 1-year-old 
take a few wobbly steps and then the afternoon watching my 4-year-old 
draw or chasing her around the house, celebrating the holiday 
surrounded by the people I cherish the most.
  But that isn't the case for far too many other moms and kids around 
the country. That isn't the case for women like Denise Reed, Sybrina 
Fulton, or Valerie Castile, who lost their children to gun violence. 
That isn't the case for the hundreds of children born in the past year 
alone whose mothers died from preventable, pregnancy-related deaths. 
That certainly isn't the case for the families whom the Trump 
administration separated at our southern border and who still have not 
yet been reunited, the kids who were thrown in cages because their 
parents had the nerve to strive for a better life.
  This Mother's Day, I am thinking of those whose hearts are hurting, 
those moms who would give anything for another lazy Sunday with their 
sons or those daughters who would do anything to hear their mother's 
laugh one more time.
  The truth is, the women--moms or otherwise--in this country deserve 
better than the status quo. We deserve more than the Trump 
administration, which in just 2-plus years has already changed title IX 
sexual assault rules to favor the accused over the survivor, tried to 
defund health clinics that provide prenatal care and mammograms, pushed 
forward healthcare proposals that would have gutted maternity coverage, 
and handed employers the power to decide whether women should have 
access to birth control.
  All this--well, it is shocking but unfortunately not surprising 
because we knew who Donald Trump was when we elected him. He is the man 
who has long made clear that he does not care about women or our 
autonomy. He is the man who once argued that women should be punished 
for taking up the right to choose; who has taken pride in trying to put 
the government between us and our doctors; who would rather throw those 
doctors in jail than even pretend to care about the women who make up 
51 percent of this Nation; who just 10 days ago stood on a stage in 
Wisconsin and lied, lied, lied, prioritizing a roar from the crowd over 
the safety of patients and providers at health clinics nationwide; and 
who just last week issued two rules that would make it easier for 
doctors to either discriminate against women or deny them care 
altogether.
  So don't tell me that Trump is ``pro-life'' when he is pushing for 
rules that endanger women's lives and when he spent years trying to 
strip healthcare away from Americans. Don't claim that he is just 
trying to protect families when he is the one to blame for the inhumane 
policy that is ripping toddlers and babies away from mothers' arms. 
Don't you dare argue that he is leading the ``party of life'' when he 
will not lift a finger to stop first graders from getting massacred in 
classrooms by the dozen. No, Donald Trump's anti-choice stance isn't 
about looking out for families; it is about getting a slap on the back 
from his base and exerting even more control over women's bodies. It is 
sexist, regressive, and flatout dangerous.
  But even while this administration's agenda is a travesty, it is not 
an anomaly; rather, it is just the latest step in the far-right's long 
march to strip away women's rights. I am tired of it, sick of their 
trying to shame women when they are the ones who should be ashamed.
  So enough with the hypocrisy, with the misogyny, with some men in 
hallowed halls in DC arguing that they know better than moms in 
Illinois or Arizona or Missouri. We can and we must do better. That 
means fighting for everything from equal pay to better parental leave. 
It means proving that we care about women every day of the year, not 
just on one Sunday in May. That is the least that our mothers, our 
daughters, and our sisters deserve.
  Thank you.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Hawaii.

[[Page S2729]]

  

  Mr. SCHATZ. Madam President, it gives me no pleasure to say this, but 
this administration is actively doing terrible things for women and 
their families. They have rolled back protections for workers. They 
have made it easier for companies to pollute the air and the water. 
They have cut investments in public education. They have literally 
taken children away from their parents and made zero effort to reunite 
them. They are working as hard as possible to prevent women from having 
access to the healthcare they need. These are not rhetorical 
statements. They are policies that hurt people. They are hurting moms.
  The Centers for Disease Control came out with a report just this week 
showing that hundreds of women die every year from pregnancy-related 
complications and that many of these deaths are preventable. The report 
finds that one of the key ways to prevent these deaths is access to 
proper medical care. Yet this administration has made taking away 
people's access to healthcare a top priority. They have put legislation 
in to end the Affordable Care Act. They filed lawsuits to take away 
protections for people with preexisting conditions. They have issued 
regulations that allow healthcare providers to refuse to provide care 
to someone based on their personal beliefs and keep healthcare 
providers from giving their patients full and accurate information. As 
we all know, they have gone after Planned Parenthood--one of the 
leading sources of healthcare for women--with everything they have.
  I remember when I first became a Member of this body, I visited a 
clinic in Honolulu. I remember meeting with the staff, who told me that 
clinic was the only source of healthcare for most of their patients. 
This was the one place women could go for family planning services, 
counseling, and breast cancer screenings.
  Planned Parenthood's entire reason for being is to help families. In 
a single year, they cared for 2.4 million people and provided almost 10 
million individual healthcare services, including 300,000 breast cancer 
screenings and over 200,000 well-woman exams--all in a single year. Yet 
a highlight of this administration's policy on women is to attack 
women's health and specifically Planned Parenthood.
  But we know it is not just healthcare. As I said, it is workplace 
safety and fairness. It is investment in public education. It is clean 
air and clean water. These are things that all of us care about but 
moms in particular.
  Whatever your political persuasion, everyone has a mom. Lots of 
people are moms or are married to a mom. This administration is 
inarguably bad for moms and bad for motherhood. Moms in this country 
deserve better.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Arkansas.