[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 41 (Tuesday, March 8, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1064-S1065]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 32--EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR THE RECOGNITION 
      OF MARCH 10, 2022, AS ``ABORTION PROVIDER APPRECIATION DAY''

  Ms. HIRONO (for herself and Mr. Peters) submitted the following 
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions:

                            S. Con. Res. 32

       Whereas March 10 has been established as a day to show 
     appreciation for the essential, high-quality care that 
     abortion providers and clinic staff provide to their 
     communities and those traveling to their communities, and to 
     celebrate their courage, compassion, and dedication to their 
     work;
       Whereas this date is established in honor of Dr. David 
     Gunn, who was killed outside

[[Page S1065]]

     his abortion clinic in Pensacola, Florida, by a white 
     supremacist, antiabortion extremist, in the first known 
     instance of murder of an abortion provider on March 10, 1993;
       Whereas abortion providers and clinic staff play a critical 
     role in a world where people must be able to make essential 
     and time-sensitive decisions about their bodies, lives, and 
     futures;
       Whereas abortion providers and clinic staff help to ensure 
     that all people who can become pregnant can make their own 
     decisions about their bodies and their pregnancies, and 
     support their patients' decisions by treating them with 
     dignity, empathy, compassion, and respect;
       Whereas abortion providers and clinic staff play an 
     essential role within the reproductive justice framework, 
     which was created by a group of Black women in 1994, who 
     determined the necessity of adopting a human rights framework 
     that demands every person has the human right to bodily 
     autonomy, which includes if, when, and how to have children, 
     to not have children, and to parent the children they have in 
     safe and sustainable communities;
       Whereas people seeking abortion care across the United 
     States also rely on the work of abortion funds and practical 
     support organizations to access abortion care for themselves 
     and their families;
       Whereas abortion funds and practical support organizations 
     that rely on donations face increasing demand as people are 
     forced into the vicious cycle of having to travel longer 
     distances, find childcare or lodging, and raise money to 
     obtain an abortion and cover associated costs;
       Whereas restrictions on accessing abortion care have far-
     reaching consequences in both deepening existing inequities 
     caused by structural racism and systemic discrimination in 
     the maternal health care system and worsening health outcomes 
     for pregnant people, people giving birth, and their families;
       Whereas abortion care restrictions in some States have 
     forced many abortion clinics to shut down, such that 90 
     percent of counties in the United States today do not have an 
     abortion provider, the number of independent abortion clinics 
     in the United States has declined by \1/3\ since 2012, and 
     efforts to undermine critical supports for patients, 
     including family planning supports, have further threatened 
     the work of abortion providers;
       Whereas restricting access to abortion care creates and 
     increases the out-of-pocket costs and logistical burdens that 
     patients face to get care while exposing the remaining 
     abortion providers and staff to increased levels of 
     harassment and politically motivated restrictions;
       Whereas the National Abortion Federation's 2020 statistics 
     on violence and disruption found an alarming escalation in 
     incidents of obstruction, vandalism, and trespassing at 
     abortion clinics, with abortion providers reporting an 
     increase in death threats and threats of harm from 92 
     incidents in 2019 to 200 in 2020;
       Whereas Black, indigenous, and other providers and patients 
     of color face heightened levels of threats, harassment, and 
     violence as compared to their white counterparts;
       Whereas 2021 marked the worst year for abortion rights 
     since Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), was decided, and the 
     passage and enforcement of restrictions on abortion access 
     and the criminalization of abortion has emboldened 
     antiabortion individuals and groups to continue to harass 
     providers and the patients they care for;
       Whereas the Supreme Court of the United States is now (as 
     of the date of adoption of this resolution) considering Dobbs 
     v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, 141 S.Ct. 2619 
     (2021), a case that the justices could use to overturn or 
     severely undermine Roe v. Wade, and at the same time has 
     refused to block Texas's blatantly unconstitutional ban on 
     abortion at approximately 6 weeks of pregnancy, allowing 
     Texas to ban the majority of abortions in the State;
       Whereas the ripple effects of Texas's abortion ban have 
     been felt by communities and abortion providers across the 
     country as abortion clinics try to absorb the massive influx 
     of Texas's patients who have the resources to travel and are 
     seeking abortion care elsewhere;
       Whereas, should the Supreme Court overturn or severely 
     undermine Roe v. Wade, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, 
     Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, 
     Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, 
     Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, 
     Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming could act as soon 
     as possible to prohibit abortion and criminalize abortion 
     providers;
       Whereas Roe v. Wade alone has never been sufficient to 
     ensure that all people, especially Black people, indigenous 
     people, people of color, working class and low-income people, 
     LGBTQIA+ people, people who are immigrants, younger people, 
     people with disabilities, geographically isolated people, and 
     people with multimarginal identities, can get the abortion 
     care they need;
       Whereas the unraveling or overturning of Roe v. Wade 
     threatens the ability of abortion providers and the clinic 
     staff who support them to serve their patients; and
       Whereas in the face of multifaceted attacks on their work, 
     abortion providers remain an essential and valued part of 
     their communities, providing high-quality, compassionate, and 
     necessary health care, and courageously delivering this care 
     despite pressures, restrictions, political interference, and 
     violent threats to their personal safety: Now, therefore, be 
     it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That Congress--
       (1) recognizes March 10, 2022, as ``Abortion Provider 
     Appreciation Day'' to celebrate the courage, compassion, and 
     high-quality care that abortion providers and clinic staff 
     offer to patients and their families across the country;
       (2) lauds communities across the country who are proud to 
     be home to abortion providers and clinic staff;
       (3) affirms Congress's commitment to ensuring the safety of 
     abortion providers, their ability to continue providing the 
     essential care their patients need, and the right of their 
     patients to access abortion care no matter where they live, 
     free from fear of violence, criminalization, or stigma; and
       (4) declares a vision for a future where access to abortion 
     is liberated from restrictions and bans universally, and 
     affirms Congress's commitment to working toward this goal in 
     partnership with providers, patients, advocates, and their 
     communities.

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