[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 170 (Wednesday, September 29, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6769-S6770]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Tribute to Susan Meuschke

  Ms. CORTEZ MASTO. Mr. President, today, I want to recognize a friend 
of mine, Susan Meuschke, who is the Executive Director of the Nevada 
Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence. She is retiring after 
three decades working on behalf of women and children in my home State 
of Nevada.
  Sue has been a champion for victims of domestic violence and their 
families since she worked as a volunteer for the Committee to Aid 
Abused Women in Reno, NV. It was there--listening to the stories of 
women dealing with family violence--that she began to understand both 
their struggles and their courage.
  Sue went on to work with the coalition for 32 years, helping develop 
it into a powerful organization statewide for those affected by 
domestic and sexual violence.
  I have had the pleasure of working with Sue since I was Nevada's 
attorney general, and together we passed legislation to create 
dedicated funding for domestic violence programs. She has continued to 
be a resource for me during my time in the U.S. Senate, as I have 
worked to prevent sex trafficking, to stem the tide of violence against 
Native women, and push for the reauthorization of the Violence Against 
Women Act.
  During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, I pushed to make sure 
that our next COVID package included more support for survivors of 
domestic violence. Sue worked to distribute those Federal funds fairly 
and effectively to Nevadans, and she worked especially hard to promote 
a microloan program that families could use to regain financial 
independence.
  As Sue enters her retirement, I want to make sure everyone in Nevada 
appreciates her decades of advocacy. She has made a profound difference 
for families in the Silver State. I have no doubt that whoever succeeds 
Sue at the coalition will continue to work tirelessly to end domestic 
and sexual violence, because, honestly, we still have so much work to 
do.
  That is why I am here on the Senate floor today. The reality is that 
women's rights are under attack around the country, and that includes 
reproductive rights. Anti-abortion extremists are going to great 
lengths to stop women from seeking reproductive care. As of June, they 
had proposed 500 new laws restricting reproductive rights and passed 70 
of these laws.
  Let's start with Texas, where a new law prohibits abortions before 
many people even know they are pregnant. The law lets anyone sue those 
who aid and abet abortions and get a $10,000 reward. It has the 
potential to create a whole industry of vigilantes prying into their 
neighbors' lives, all to stop women from being able to access 
reproductive healthcare.
  The American people--70 percent of us--oppose deputizing private 
citizens to collect these kinds of bounties.
  But even though the Texas law is extreme, the Supreme Court has 
refused to stop it from going into effect. That means that, right now, 
7 million women of reproductive age in Texas have been deprived of a 
key constitutional right, a right that they have had for 50 years.
  Clinics in Oklahoma City, OK, and Little Rock, AR, have seen the 
number of Texas women seeking abortions jump tenfold in a matter of 
days.
  But it is not just Texas where the right to medical care is 
threatened. Dangerous abortion bans have been signed into law in 
Mississippi, Arizona, and Georgia, among others. And all of this is 
happening because anti-abortion extremists have been working for 
decades to limit women's choices.
  Let's be very clear: they are on the brink of success. On December 1, 
the Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in a case called Dobbs 
v. Jackson Women's Health, which deals with an abortion ban in 
Mississippi. This case was specifically chosen by anti-choice activists 
to help strike down Roe v. Wade.
  Sadly, the Court has given every signal it is willing to do the 
activists' bidding by overturning Roe v. Wade and allowing these bans 
to take effect. That is why I and 47 of my Senate colleagues filed a 
friend of the court brief last week, calling on the Supreme Court to 
stick to the settled precedent of Roe and strike down the Mississippi 
law.
  But if the Supreme Court doesn't abide by 50 years of its own 
rulings, well, there are 19 States where abortion would be illegal the 
day after a Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe V. Wade, and others 
where abortion bans would likely follow.
  All in all, nearly half of women nationwide will see the nearest 
clinic close. The average distance to the nearest clinic for those 
seeking reproductive care will jump from 25 to 279 miles. Anyone who 
has ever worked a minimum-wage job knows that they don't have the 
luxury of traveling hundreds of miles for healthcare.
  Women's healthcare isn't optional. Nevadans know this. That is why we 
worked so hard in Nevada to protect the right to choose.
  In the nineties, we passed a ballot initiative to enshrine choice 
into law, and we have actually done away with the kind of restrictions 
on abortion that are popping up in State after State.
  But what we are seeing in Texas and other States across the country 
threatens the future of Roe V. Wade everywhere. Let me be clear: It 
threatens the future of Roe V. Wade everywhere. And without Roe, there 
will be no Federal protections in place, paving the way for anti-choice 
lawmakers to pass legislation to restrict reproductive rights anywhere 
in the country.
  And that is why it is so important for the Senate to pass the Women's 
Health Protection Act. This bill would outlaw bans in other medically 
unnecessary restrictions on abortion across the country. It would mean 
that States could not impose medically unnecessary ultrasounds, 
excessive waiting periods, and extreme burdens on

[[Page S6770]]

healthcare providers intended to limit abortion access.

  In Nevada and across the country, the vast majority of voters 
believes that women should get to make their own decisions about their 
reproductive health, including when and whether to have a child. We 
cannot let a dedicated minority take that right away from the rest of 
us.
  Let me just say, I am going to keep working on this issue because it 
is so important to Nevadans and to women all over this country. This is 
about making sure that women can control their own bodies and their 
futures, and I will always stand up for that.
  I yield the floor.