[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 80 (Wednesday, May 11, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H4806]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 NOBODY IS FREE UNTIL EVERYBODY IS FREE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Massachusetts (Ms. Pressley) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. PRESSLEY. Madam Speaker, I rise today in solidarity with the one 
in four women across this country who have had an abortion and every 
person who will ever seek abortion care; your neighbor, co-worker, 
family member, those whom you work with, Madam Speaker, and, yes, those 
whom you worship with, too.
  I stand with the mother of three working double shifts to make ends 
meet, who just could not manage the physical demands of another 
pregnancy; the student who made the decision to finish their degree and 
begin their family on their own terms--no shame, no stigma, and no 
regrets; and the young parents who received the heart-wrenching news 
that they have miscarried and will need abortion care immediately.
  I rise today to proclaim: I see you, I love you, and I stand with 
you. Carry no shame for your healthcare choice.
  The only shame is that there are forces at work to deny you it. And 
while my heart is heavy, my spirit is resolved and determined.
  Madam Speaker, there are many who have arrived at this moment with 
newfound outrage at the prospect of this reversal of law. But many of 
us have been in the trenches of this fight for a long time, and we are 
not surprised. Reproductive justice organizers, Black, Brown, 
indigenous, disabled, and LGBTQ-plus folks have been sounding the 
alarm, raising their voices, and putting our bodies on the line in 
protest as anti-choice lawmakers across the country wage a full-fledged 
assault on our reproductive rights and freedom.
  For too long, the right to control our own bodies, the right to 
determine our own fate, and the right to decide if and when we have a 
child is up for debate in the Halls of power.
  Madam Speaker, we have been called hysterical, and we have been 
called fearmongers, and when I talk about who will disproportionally 
bear the brunt of this, we have been called race-baiters.
  This is no drill, and I take no joy in saying: I told you so.
  I have stood on the steps of City Hall in Boston. I have organized on 
the Boston Common. I have stood at the State House in Boston, and I 
have stood on the steps of the Supreme Court chanting: ``Nobody is free 
until everybody is free. Liberate abortion.''
  Madam Speaker, nobody is free until everybody is free. SCOTUS has 
offered empty words in their leaked draft ruling and then threw up 
barricades and fences knowing full well that the majority of people who 
call this Nation home vehemently disagree.
  SCOTUS claims that our human rights are invalidated by their opinions 
of what is and isn't rooted in our Nation's ``history and traditions.''
  A quick history lesson: our Nation's history and traditions denied my 
very personhood. Our Nation's history and traditions bought and sold my 
ancestors. Our Nation's history and traditions exploited the bodies of 
people who look like me.
  Our full humanity, our bodily autonomy, and our collective liberation 
hang in the balance.
  Madam Speaker, the Court fails to live up to its ideals and its 
purpose. The idea of equal justice under the law has been a rallying 
cry but not a reality for many. The anti-abortion movement in America 
is rooted in organized white supremacy, and overturning Roe v. Wade 
would only perpetuate cycles of poverty and trap our most vulnerable in 
systems of oppression.
  None of this is abstract. There is a history of medical apartheid in 
this country against Black, Brown, immigrant, indigenous, and disabled 
folks. And right now we find ourselves living in a Black maternal 
morbidity crisis where Black women are three times more likely to die 
from pregnancy-related complications than White women--to die.
  We have suffered a history of forced sterilization and 
experimentation on Black, Brown, and disabled bodies without our 
consent. And now there exists a systemic prospect of folks being forced 
to carry a pregnancy against their will--forced birth--in the same 
country where we deprive families with universal healthcare, childcare, 
and paid medical and family leave.
  Abortion bans would put legal, safe, and necessary abortion care out 
of reach for millions, especially our most vulnerable. So Congress must 
act. This Democratic-controlled House, Senate, and White House--the 
majority--must mean more than a talking point, and we must legislate as 
if lives depend on it, because they do.
  To my Senate colleagues on the other side of this Capitol, I ask of 
you--no, I demand--that you act. We have the voice. We have the power. 
We have a mandate. It is time for action. Anything else is 
insufficient.
  Abolish the Jim Crow filibuster. Pass the Women's Health Protection 
Act, which I am a proud original cosponsor of, and enshrine the 
fundamental human right to abortion care in Federal law once and for 
all. I cannot stomach one more lecture about the preservation of civil 
liberties when you seek to deny me the very freedom and agency over my 
own body.
  Nobody is free until everybody is free.

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