[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 148 (Monday, September 16, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5489-S5490]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Healthcare

  Mr. President, once again, the Trump administration is trying to take 
healthcare away from people.
  I will never forget. I was sitting at this desk on the Senate floor 
the night when Senators Murkowski, Collins, and McCain voted against 
repealing the Affordable Care Act. I watched my colleagues--all of whom 
have good health insurance--all of us have good health insurance 
because of taxpayers. I watched my colleagues, one after another after 
another, vote to take health insurance away from millions of people. 
There are 900,000 people in my State alone who have insurance now 
because of the Affordable Care Act.
  This time, the Trump administration is trying to pull funding from 
health facilities that tell the truth to their patients--facilities 
like Planned Parenthood--that nearly 100,000 Ohioans rely on. They are 
blocking title X funding for any healthcare organization that actually 
gives patients medically relevant information and the full range of 
healthcare options. We know who makes these decisions. I hate to say it 
this way, but it is mostly White men in Washington, and they have very 
serious consequences for Ohio women.

  This month, two Planned Parenthood clinics in Cincinnati announced 
they will have to close their doors. This will be devastating for so 
many Southwest Ohio women. It will mean they have fewer options for 
healthcare services they need, including preventive care like cancer 
screenings and STI testing and birth control. It will mean many women 
won't be able to see the doctors they rely on and trust.
  A student in Cincinnati named Caroline--who said we can use her first 
name--talked to a local reporter about what this decision means for 
her. She said:

       I have a very close relationship with my provider. There's 
     a lot of trust there that's been built over the years.

  But now, because of this President, she is not going to be able to 
see that doctor anymore--to what purpose other than playing politics?
  I got a letter from another woman in Cincinnati, who wrote:

       As someone who lost her grandmother to uterine cancer in 
     March, I know how important it is for women to have access to 
     the healthcare services that Planned Parenthood provides. 
     Women have the right to make informed decisions about their 
     own bodies and to have access to examinations that can help 
     save their lives.

  That came from a woman in Cincinnati.
  We know Planned Parenthood provides these exams and tests. These 
clinics are often the only places that many women and some men have to 
turn. They either can't afford somewhere else, or they live too far 
away from other healthcare providers to have any other real option. 
Last year, the West Side clinic that is closing in Cincinnati performed 
more than 6,900 STI tests. The Springdale clinic that is closing 
performed more than 6,300 tests.
  Another woman from Cincinnati wrote to say that her 30-year-old 
daughter has an advanced degree, but her income is ``below poverty 
level,'' and she relies on Planned Parenthood for her care. Does this 
mean she won't get care? It probably does. It means she can't afford to 
go anywhere else. She will just go without care, and we know what can 
then happen to someone. The mother of the 30-year-old daughter said: 
``Now she will be hard-pressed to find a provider that will take her 
for checkups, to receive birth control and more.''
  The assault on women's healthcare isn't just coming from the Trump 
administration; they are encouraging rightwing State legislatures all 
over the country. Over the past few years, we have seen State 
legislatures notably--including my State, unfortunately, Ohio--making 
it harder and harder for clinics to operate and provide those 
preventive services. They

[[Page S5490]]

cut funding, they increase redtape, they rail against bureaucrats and 
bureaucracy, but they make it harder with more redtape. They come up 
with rule after unnecessary rule to dissuade young women from coming to 
these clinics.
  These rules aren't really about patient health; they are about 
closing health clinics. Again, who made these laws? It is always the 
same. It is men who don't listen, men who don't understand how women's 
bodies' work. It is men who don't understand how preventive care, like 
birth control, works. It is time for old White men in Washington and in 
courtrooms to stop trying to take away women's healthcare.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.