[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 80 (Wednesday, May 11, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H4802-H4803]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 FIGHT FOR WOMEN'S REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Garcia) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. GARCIA of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise to urge that now more than 
ever is the time for us to come together and fight for reproductive 
rights for women.
  Recently, through a leaked Supreme Court opinion, we learned that the 
progress we have made on a woman's right to choose over the last 50 
years is in serious jeopardy.
  The Nation learned that the almost 50-year settled law of Roe v. Wade 
is in danger of being undone at the hands of radical Republican Supreme 
Court Justices. Even worse, the Republican Party has made it clear its 
goal is to criminalize--I repeat, criminalize--abortions.
  In short, Republicans seek to punish women and providers of abortion 
for women exercising their basic human rights to control their own 
bodies. This is terrifying.
  For the first time in our history, our daughters will have less 
freedom than their mothers. This is unacceptable and un-American.
  Republican State legislators across the Nation are already seeking to 
arrest doctors for offering reproductive care, and some also want to 
ban all abortions with zero exceptions--nada, zero.

[[Page H4803]]

  


                              {time}  1015

  In Texas, we have essentially been living life without Roe since the 
passage of S.B. 8, one of the most horrific abortion laws in the 
country. We have been basically already working with an abortion ban. 
Some women have already been charged with murder for making 
reproductive decisions, like Lizelle Herrera from my home State of 
Texas.
  If Roe v. Wade is criminalized, it will criminalize abortion to 
trigger a law in Texas that a provider could be charged with a Federal 
felony, subject to even a lifetime in prison. Lizelle Herrera, having 
been stripped of her reproductive rights, this innocent woman, was 
pitted into such a desperate corner by Republicans in Texas that she 
was forced to carry out a self-induced abortion.
  Shockingly, to make matters worse, a hospital she visited following 
the abortion called police to report her. She was then arrested and 
faced a severe murder charge. This poor woman was forced to carry out 
one of the most personal choices a woman can make in an unsafe manner. 
On top of that, she faced public humiliation and legal backlash for 
acting on her own in desperation.
  Ultimately, the district attorney dropped the charges and admitted 
Lizelle should never have been arrested. Madam Speaker, there was 
actually an exemption in our Texas Penal Code on this issue. Frankly, I 
have no idea why it was even filed.
  I agree with the DA. It never should have been filed.
  Madam Speaker, 7 out of 10 Texans believe laws in our State should be 
less strict. However, the damage has been done. She was publicly 
humiliated, experienced a traumatic experience at the hands of 
draconian Republican policies, and was subjected to public humiliation 
and shame and intense media attention. My heart breaks for Lizelle and 
other women around the country who have or may experience this.
  My colleagues, we must not go back. We cannot go back. We must not 
allow our country to fall back into those dark days before Roe v. Wade 
when there were--yes, we don't want to talk about it--back-alley 
abortions, perhaps unsafe illegal abortions, we know. We cannot go 
back. We must make sure that we do not criminalize abortion.
  At the hands of Republicans, my home State, Texas, has given us a 
glimpse of what it may come to if this leaked Supreme Court opinion is 
finalized, and it is not pretty. We must do all we can to protect a 
woman's right to choose.
  If the Republican-appointed Supreme Court Justices have it their way, 
women will be pitted into desperate corners--just like our Texas 
resident, Lizelle Herrera was. This is wrong. It is cruel. I won't be 
quiet about this.
  This House has already passed a law putting Roe v. Wade in statute. I 
urge my Senate colleagues to do the same and make sure that Roe v. Wade 
is the law of the land as it has been for 50 years, and that we protect 
a woman's right to make a very personal healthcare decision for herself 
and her family and her future. We must not go back.

                          ____________________