[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 80 (Tuesday, May 14, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2804-S2805]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Women's Healthcare

  Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I rise to express my objections in 
opposition to the Trump administration's constant attacks on women's 
healthcare, such as taking action to undermine the Patient Protection 
and Affordable Care Act and finalizing administrative rules that allow 
discriminatory practices to family planning providers and women seeking 
reproductive healthcare.
  Women and their healthcare should not be under constant threat. As a 
country, the United States has made great efforts to promote equal 
rights for both women and men. Yet in the 21st century, the Trump 
administration and congressional Republicans continue to push the 
policies that set this country back.
  The Trump administration's attacks on women's healthcare are 
unconscionable. Trump has taken several administrative actions that 
allow employers, insurance companies, and hospitals to refuse 
healthcare coverage and services based on their personal beliefs. For 
example, the recently finalized refusal rule allows virtually any 
individual or entity involved in a patient's care--from a hospital's 
board of directors to a receptionist who schedules procedures--to put 
their personal beliefs ahead of a patient's healthcare needs.
  Letting hospitals, pharmacies, and a range of people involved in 
healthcare deny services means that women will lose critical care. Rape 
survivors could be denied emergency birth control. Same-sex couples 
could be denied fertility treatment. Women with an unintended pregnancy 
could be denied information and counseling on their options. The rule 
represents a radical departure from HHS's mission and long history of 
combating discrimination, protecting patients' access to care, and 
eliminating health disparities. It is outrageous that President Trump 
continually implements policies that discriminate against women in 
healthcare. We cannot allow women to be treated this way.

  One of the most egregious acts of this administration is gutting 
title X, the Nation's only federal grant program dedicated solely to 
providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related 
preventive health services. The Trump administration finalized a rule 
that would bar providers from giving their patients complete medical 
information and block care at popular family planning providers like 
Planned Parenthood, even though Planned Parenthood serves approximately 
40 percent of title X patients.
  Last year, title X funding allowed nearly 4,000 health centers to 
provide over 4 million low-income women and men basic primary and 
preventive healthcare services such as pap tests, cervical cancer 
screenings, contraception, breast exams, and HIV testing. In Maryland 
there are 55 title X-funded health centers spanning my State. These 
include federally qualified health centers, local health departments, 
Planned Parenthood clinics, and school-based health centers. In fiscal 
year 2015, Maryland received over $3.8 million in title X funding and 
provided health services to over 64,000 patients. These are low-income, 
underinsured, and uninsured individuals who would otherwise lack access 
to healthcare.
  In addition to attacks on women's healthcare, the Trump 
administration has proposed a title IX rule that weakens the existing 
protections for victims of campus sexual assault and allows 
universities to roll back their responsibilities to ensure students 
receive an education free of discrimination. Recently I was on the 
campus of the University of Maryland, College Park, speaking to 
students from College Park and Bowie State University regarding issues 
related to higher education. At College Park students are guaranteed 
housing on campus only for their first 2 years of education. Under 
Secretary DeVos's title IX rule, the university would no longer be 
responsible for investigating any claims of sexual assault for 
incidents that take place off campus, even though it may involve two 
students. In fact, 9 out of 10 sexual assaults do take place off 
college campuses.
  This rule and the administration's failure even to listen to the 
concerns of sexual assault survivors on campus show a callous disregard 
for victims. We should be working to ensure protection for victims, not 
minimizing their experiences. In order to do just that, I have fought 
for funding for the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights to 
have adequate staffing to investigate these claims and other

[[Page S2805]]

claims of violations of a student's civil rights. I have also 
cosponsored bipartisan legislation, such as the Campus Accountability 
and Safety Act, which seeks to find a commonsense solution to this 
difficult issue that holds colleges accountable without traumatizing 
victims when reporting an assault.
  We should also take up and pass the reauthorization for the Violence 
Against Women's Act. Last month, the House passed this critical 
legislation, which would reauthorize funding of these programs and 
authorize new programs; amend and add definitions used in the VAWA 
programs; amend Federal criminal law relating to firearms, custodial 
rape, and stalking; and expand Tribal jurisdiction over certain crimes 
committed on Tribal lands.
  The American people deserve better from their elected officials. I am 
committed to opposing President Trump's reckless and outrageous actions 
that would harm women and their families in Maryland and across our 
Nation.
  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. JONES. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (The remarks of Mr. Jones pertaining to the introduction of S. 1453 
are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. JONES. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Romney). The Senator from Illinois.