[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 81 (Thursday, May 12, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H4902-H4907]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1630
                      WOMEN'S REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Jayapal). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 4, 2021, the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Carolyn 
B. Maloney) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the 
majority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous 
consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend 
their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of this 
Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, it has been 
nearly 2 weeks since the world saw the Supreme Court's draft decision 
to overturn Roe v. Wade.
  We all had suspected it was coming. I rise today to oppose that 
decision and to oppose what has become the tyranny of the Republican 
minority, a minority that has worked for decades to restrict the rights 
of women and minorities. The extremist Republican minority has worked 
systematically over the years to politicize the Supreme Court by 
packing it with activist ideologues who hold views in line with the 
demands of these extremists.
  Now this Republican minority, after successfully packing the Court 
with ideologues, they now seek to use this decision to return women to 
a dark time, a time when a woman had no right to decide for herself, to 
a time when abortions were illegal.
  But let's be clear from the start. This whole argument is not really 
about whether or not there will be abortions in this country, for there 
have always been, and there will always be abortions in this country 
and around the world. The only question is: Will those abortions be 
safe and legal?
  In 1973, the year of the decision, I marched with many women and 
fought for Roe v. Wade. On the day in 1992 when the decision in Planned 
Parenthood v. Casey was announced, I announced that I was running for 
Congress because I objected to the restrictions they were putting on 
women. I wanted equal rights for women and more pro-choice legislators 
fighting for women in Washington. So I ran for office and won.
  Yesterday, I marched with my Democratic colleagues to the Senate in 
support of maintaining Roe v. Wade.
  Madam Speaker, I join the majority of women in this country in 
strongly opposing this decision, the injustice, this march back to a 
darker time, and I will join them in marching, fighting, and 
legislating until our rights to control decisions about our lives and 
our bodies are secure because I believe there is no democracy if women 
cannot make their own choices about their healthcare and their bodies, 
including reproductive healthcare.
  If this draft Supreme Court decision takes effect, hundreds of 
millions of people in 26 States would be deprived of their right to 
choose, of their right to abortion. People of color, the LGBTQ-plus 
community, young people, people with disabilities, low-income 
Americans, those who are the most marginalized will suffer the most.
  If Roe falls, State so-called trigger laws, in quotes, already passed 
in 13 States, will immediately ban abortion in those States entirely.

[[Page H4903]]

  Also deeply troubling, this decision lays the groundwork for the 
Court to tear down other fundamental rights, like the right to use 
contraception, marriage equality, and so many other rights. All of this 
from the Republican Party that proclaims itself to be the party of 
smaller government except when it comes to making decisions over a 
woman's life.
  Yesterday I marched again. I marched to the Senate with my Democratic 
colleagues and urged my Senate colleagues to pass the Women's Health 
Protection Act, like we passed here in this House earlier. This bill 
would establish a statutory right to abortion care across our country.
  But as they did earlier this year, the Senate came up short because 
there are not enough pro-choice Senators to protect abortion rights for 
women. This is unacceptable, and every Senator who voted against the 
Women's Health Protection Act must be held accountable by the American 
people, by their constituents.
  Madam Speaker, yesterday's vote has made one thing clear. The Senate 
is so far out of step with what most Americans believe. Eighty percent 
of Americans agree that the decision to have an abortion should be left 
to a woman and her doctor compared to just nine percent who agree it 
should be left to politicians and the government.
  The Senate should reflect the will of the people and protect the 
right to control our own bodies, which is why we need to fight for a 
pro-choice Senate, to protect our rights.
  We can and we must do everything we can to ensure that reproductive 
rights are the law of our land. Our lives, the lives of our children, 
and future generations depend on it.
  Madam Speaker, I yield now to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. 
Jayapal), the head of the Progressive Caucus.
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Madam Speaker, I thank Chairwoman Maloney for her 
tremendous leadership on so many issues, including reproductive rights, 
and for holding a hearing earlier in her committee on abortion and 
inviting several of us to testify.
  I am very proud to be here as the chair of the Congressional 
Progressive Caucus. This is our Special Order hour, and I couldn't be 
prouder to be dedicating this Special Order hour to this critical issue 
of women's freedom, because that is what we are talking about is 
women's freedom.
  The leaked draft opinion from the Supreme Court represents an 
unprecedented, unlawful, and unjust attack on our constitutional 
reproductive rights. Reproductive rights groups and Black and Brown 
folks on the front line of this fight have been sounding the alarm for 
years that this day would come. The leaked draft opinion is a 
culmination of decades of insidious work from the extreme right, who 
have rigged the system in their favor.

  I speak to you, Madam Speaker, today as one of the one in four women 
in America who have had an abortion. For people to understand how I 
ultimately decided to have an abortion, I have to start with the birth 
of my first child, Janak. Janak was born at 26\1/2\ weeks while I was 
on a 2-year fellowship in India. She weighed only 1 pound 14 ounces, 
and upon birth she went down to a weight of just 21 ounces. Janak was 
so small, she fit into the palm of my hand. She was no bigger than a 
medium-sized squash. For 3 months, we did not know if Janak would live 
or die. She needed multiple blood transfusions, she had to be fed drop 
by drop, and she constantly had her heart stop and restart.
  We returned to the United States after 3 months, and in those early, 
intensely difficult years, Janak had hydrocephalus, water in her brain. 
She had seizures and she returned repeatedly to the emergency room 
because of life-threatening pneumonia. The fact that Janak is today a 
26-year-old beautiful human being is a true miracle, and the greatest 
gift in my life.
  At the same time that Janak was born, I was also fighting to keep my 
legal permanent resident status, married to a U.S. citizen and with a 
U.S. citizen child, and yet without the ability to return with the same 
status that I had. In the end, I was able to return to the United 
States with Janak, provided that I started from scratch to qualify for 
citizenship.
  As a new mom taking care of a very sick baby and recovering from 
major surgery myself, I was struggling. I experienced severe postpartum 
depression and post-traumatic stress disorder that was only diagnosed 
after I contemplated suicide and realized that I needed to seek help. 
My marriage did not survive. We split custody of Janak, and I was a 
part-time single parent.
  Shortly after, I met a wonderful man who is my husband today. I knew 
I was not ready to have another child, so I religiously took my daily 
contraceptive pill. Despite that, I became pregnant. I consulted with 
my doctors, who told me that any future pregnancy would likely also be 
high risk to me and to my child, similar to what I had gone through 
with Janak. I very much wanted to have more children, but I simply 
could not imagine going through that again.
  After discussions with my partner, who was completely supportive of 
whatever choice I made, I decided to have an abortion. Two decades 
later, I think about those moments on the table in the doctor's office, 
a doctor who was kind and compassionate and skilled, performing 
abortions in a State that recognizes a person's constitutional right to 
make their choices about their reproductive care.
  For me, terminating my pregnancy was not an easy choice, but it was 
my choice, and it really shouldn't matter if it is a difficult or hard 
choice. That choice, that freedom is what has to be preserved for every 
pregnant person, a freedom that cannot be dictated by people in the 
minority pushing their extremist agenda on everybody else, the Supreme 
Court included.
  Until 2019, so for 15 years, I never spoke publicly or privately 
about my abortion. In fact, I didn't even tell my mother about it. Some 
of it was because as an immigrant from a culture that deeply values 
children and in a society that still stigmatizes abortion here in the 
United States, I felt a shame that I never should have felt.
  Two years ago, I decided to tell my story as a Member of Congress 
because I was so deeply concerned about the abortion ban legislation 
that was coming out from States across the country, and I became only 
the second Member of Congress to publicly talk about my abortion.
  Today, as we are on the cusp of a horrific decision from the Supreme 
Court to criminalize women's rights and the right to an abortion, we 
all have to speak out to tell our truths if we are able. I want you to 
know that there are so many different situations that people face in 
making these choices.
  Whether the choice to have an abortion is easy or hard, whether there 
are traumatic situations or not, none of this should be the issue. It 
is simply nobody's business what choices we pregnant people make about 
our own bodies. Let me be very clear, I would never tell people who 
don't choose to have an abortion that they should have an abortion, nor 
should they tell me that I shouldn't. This is a constitutionally 
protected, intensely personal choice.
  I did not suffer the economic issues that so many poor people suffer. 
I did not suffer from living in a State that doesn't allow pregnant 
people to make these choices, and I was very privileged to live in a 
world post-Roe v. Wade where abortion had been established as settled 
law as a constitutional right.
  Today, abortion is still the law of the land, and providers remain 
hard at work to give the care that so many desperately need and 
deserve. But it is clear that the Supreme Court, a majority on the 
Supreme Court who were appointed by two Republican Presidents who did 
not win even the majority of the popular vote, that the Supreme Court 
is poised to overturn this fundamental right to choose. And the 
communities that will pay the steepest prices are our low-income 
communities, our Black and Brown communities, our LGBTQ communities.

  The Progressive Caucus and our members have been at the forefront of 
protecting these rights and ensuring that we in the House passed the 
Women's Health Protection Act, that we work to repeal the Hyde 
amendment, and that we remove the stigma around abortion care and 
reproductive health choices.
  This is existentially urgent, and we will not allow the Supreme Court 
or the United States Senate, the people who voted against the 
codification of Roe v. Wade, to win in this battle. We

[[Page H4904]]

will fight to the very end for our freedoms.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I thank 
Representative Jayapal for her leadership of the Progressive Caucus and 
for her strength in sharing her very personal and painful story. It has 
given me more strength to fight this battle, and I hope it will inspire 
many, many more as we fight for our basic rights.
  Madam Speaker, I yield now to the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Jones), a leader in the Progressive Caucus.
  Mr. JONES. Madam Speaker, it is absurd, absurd that in the year 2022 
I have to speak to defend every human's right to make their own 
healthcare decisions, but because six far-right Supreme Court Justices 
are set to impose their unpopular views on everyone in this country, I 
stand here to urge my colleagues to do everything we can to protect the 
right to abortion, including expanding the Supreme Court.

                              {time}  1645

  Madam Speaker, I stand here for people in my family and folks in my 
community who could soon have their rights stripped away, people who, 
if they aren't able to get the abortion they need, will be trapped in a 
cycle of poverty, folks who will no longer be able to work their job or 
get the education that they fought so hard to get.
  For me, this is personal because it is people like my single mother 
who worked multiple jobs just to provide for our family, Black and 
brown folks, and the poorest people in our society who will suffer most 
from the extreme decision to overturn Roe v. Wade--50 years of settled 
precedent out of the window because Republicans on the Supreme Court 
want to interfere in people's healthcare decisions.
  Yes, the Senate must follow our lead here in the House and pass 
legislation that will secure the right to an abortion, but let's not 
fool ourselves into thinking that the 6-3 far-right Court, which is 
preparing to overturn a 50-year-old Supreme Court precedent, and which 
has spent the last decade dismantling the Voting Rights Act, is all of 
a sudden going to start respecting the will of Congress.
  That is why we have to pass the Judiciary Act of 2021 to add four 
seats to the Supreme Court to restore balance and finally respect the 
will of the American people, who overwhelmingly support Roe v. Wade.
  Madam Speaker, I want to now read an abortion story from a resident 
in Westchester County, New York, Lisa Hofflich, into the Record.
  Lisa writes: ``For almost 30 years, I could count on one hand the 
people who knew I had an abortion. One was my boyfriend, and two were 
the nurse and the doctor who performed the procedure. Until now. I am 
finally sharing a story I never thought I would tell, one that I have 
kept personal and private because of the fear of judgment and stigma I 
thought I would receive from the outside world.
  ``I was barely 20 years old and a college junior dreaming of becoming 
a television journalist. My boyfriend and I had been dating for only a 
few months. Like many women, my cycle was irregular, and so by the time 
I realized I was pregnant, I was 8 weeks along. I was terrified that my 
very strict parents would force me to quit school, move back home, and 
have the baby. I couldn't do that. I was a baby myself. It took me 2 
weeks to save up the $500 in cash and finally get an appointment with a 
doctor to perform the abortion.
  ``I will never forget that day, the fear and the guilt I was made to 
feel. After learning that I was 10 weeks pregnant, the nurse shook her 
head and asked, `Why did you wait so long?' Those words pierced me then 
and still haunt me to this day.
  ``My heart breaks for all the women and girls who still suffer in 
silence from the shame imposed on them.
  ``I eventually married that boyfriend, and we now have five beautiful 
children. But I know if I had not gone through with that abortion, 
these children and the wonderful life my husband and I built for 
ourselves would not exist. I made the right choice, and I have no 
regrets. I made the right choice because it was my choice to make.
  ``As our fundamental rights over bodily autonomy come under siege, we 
can't afford to be silent any longer. I am sharing my story to bring 
abortion out of the shadows and into everyday dialogue so that we can 
ensure they remain safe, legal, and accessible for every person.''
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, may I inquire how 
much time is remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Omar). The gentlewoman has 40\1/2\ 
minutes remaining.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I thank 
Representative Jones for sharing that story. It was very moving.
  To others that are watching, if you want to share your story, send 
them to us so we can read them into the Congressional Record and share 
with other Americans about the need to save a woman's right to choose.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. 
Schakowsky), one of the leading voices in Congress for women's rights 
and consumer rights.
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I thank my sister and my colleague, 
Congresswoman Maloney, for taking the lead always on issues to protect 
women's rights.
  I want to declare right now that women are not going back. Women will 
not tolerate being second-class citizens. I will not tolerate that my 
granddaughters will not have the rights that women have today. That a 
fundamental, basic threshold right in the United States of America, in 
the 21st century, will be snatched away is something not only 
unthinkable but something that doesn't need to happen.
  Let me tell you a story that was told to me. I have a dear friend, an 
adult man, who told me about his mother, Shirley. When he was 11 years 
old, his mother, Shirley, was told that if she was going to carry to 
term the fetus that was in her womb right now, she would not survive.
  This tragically was just before Roe v. Wade was passed, just a couple 
of months before Roe became the law of the land.
  The only place that abortion was legal was in New York. This single 
mom had to put the money together to finally get herself to New York, 
and she did. She scrounged that money. She saved. She borrowed.
  But when she got there, she was told at the clinic: Too late. She was 
too far gone in the pregnancy.
  She came home and celebrated the Fourth of July with her children. 
When she went to deliver, she died, leaving an 11-year-old son and two 
little girls to be orphans.
  I have a button that I have had for a long time that I wear that 
says: Roe was not the beginning of women having abortions. Roe was the 
end of women dying from abortions.
  Do you think that in this country the majority of Americans support 
the idea of allowing women to die? We know they don't. We know that the 
majority of Americans--the vast majority of Democrats, three-fourths of 
Independents, and, yes, a majority of Republicans--say no, that Roe v. 
Wade, the right to access an abortion, may not--should not--be 
overturned. We have an opportunity right now in the United States of 
America, and it is called the vote.

  We have what I would consider a rogue Supreme Court right now. The 
filibuster was eliminated, the requirement for 80 votes, in order to 
get the current Justices of the Supreme Court there so that they could 
do this dastardly deed. But if we just go to the polls, we can change 
that, not someday in the future but in this next election.
  Hopefully, we can get the Senate to do it. But I will tell you that 
Mitch McConnell has already said if they were to win the Senate, he 
wants to suspend the filibuster, the 80-vote requirement, and make a 
prohibition on abortion the law of the land, not just for the States to 
decide.
  I will tell you something: This is not going to happen. There is a 
tsunami out there of opposition to this. It is not just women; it is 
men and women alike. It is about families who don't want to see a 13-
year-old girl who has been raped be forced to carry that pregnancy to 
term. Are you kidding me?
  I am putting out a warning right now and an invitation to all people 
who think that women deserve that right to control their own bodies to 
say: No way. Hell no.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the 
gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. Omar).
  Ms. OMAR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding, and I 
join

[[Page H4905]]

my colleagues in thanking her for her leadership.
  Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to speak against the cruel and 
unconstitutional leaked Supreme Court decision overturning settled law 
of the land, Roe v. Wade. To be clear, controlling decisions about our 
bodies is a basic human right. The government has no right to regulate 
what we can do with our bodies.
  Overturning Roe v. Wade is about control. It is about religious 
supremacy. It is about harming women. It would fly in the face of 
decades of precedent and the overwhelming majority of public opinion if 
this decision is to hold.
  We know this decision will fall hardest on the most vulnerable in 
this country: women who have been abused, women who are the victims of 
incest, and those who have been raped. But its consequences will be 
even more far-reaching than we can imagine. This will be a blow to 
everyone who believes in the 14th Amendment, to anyone who believes 
there is a limit to how much the government can control the decisions 
we make in our private lives.
  We will be leaving our children and the next generation in a world 
with less freedom than we have enjoyed ourselves.
  It is shocking to me that all of this is being championed by and is 
coming from a party that believes in small government, a party that 
talks about freedom, liberty. This is the party now that wants to do 
everything that they can to tell women what decisions they can make 
about their reproductive rights.
  They want somebody like Senator Ted Cruz regulating your uterus.
  They want Senator Chuck Grassley having authority over your body.
  We have to say no. We have to stand up, and we have to fight back.
  If you care about women's rights, you should be outraged by this 
decision.
  If you care about a woman's right to choose, you should be outraged.
  If you care about women having access to healthcare, you should be 
outraged by this decision.
  If you care about economic justice, you should be outraged by this 
decision.
  If you care about our basic freedoms, you should be outraged by this 
decision.
  It is heartbreaking to hear some of the stories shared by my 
colleagues, to hear about some of the stories shared by my 
constituents. But it will be even more heartbreaking to hear about the 
stories that will be shared if we do not protect a woman's right to 
choose.
  I think about many countries that I visited where women are locked 
up, serving 20 years in jail for having an abortion, where we hear 
about stories of women who die in back alleys because their families 
forced them to have that baby.

                              {time}  1700

  We hear about the stories where rape victims are forced to carry 
their babies to full term.
  This is shocking, and it is shocking because those stories are about 
to become the stories of young women in the United States of America, a 
country that is supposed to be a symbol of freedom, a country that 
believes and exports what it means for women to be celebrated as an 
equal, a country that talks about how glorious its Constitution is in 
guaranteeing the rights of its citizens.
  Now, this is about to become a country where women are crying out in 
pain because their freedoms are being impeded by Republicans, who only 
say they believe in freedom but do not want to guarantee freedoms to 
women in this country.
  As an immigrant, I am proud to be an American. I am proud to be a 
woman living in this country. I am proud to be a mother of four 
children and to have given birth to three of them. I am proud to have 
been given the ability to make choices for myself that I might not have 
been allowed in the country that I was born in.
  But it pains me today to know that those who believe in religious 
superiority, those who don't believe in the fundamental rights for 
people to choose as they please in this country, might have the last 
laugh, and we might not be able to do anything about it.
  Not only do we have a narrow window of enshrining and codifying Roe 
v. Wade into law, but we also have only a couple of more months to make 
sure that this body and the Senate are not lost to religious extremists 
and that our country will be in their hands as they govern us to the 
gutter.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the 
gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Newman).
  Ms. NEWMAN. Mr. Speaker, I am so glad to be here tonight, and I am so 
proud that the gentlewoman put this together for all of us.
  Mr. Speaker, to say that I am deeply disappointed is really an 
understatement. I have to tell you, many people in our country think 
that the word ``abortion'' is taboo, shouldn't be said, shouldn't be 
uttered. The Republican Senate reiterated that this week. But worse, it 
told women that we don't matter. It told women that we don't trust you. 
It told women that you should not have agency over your body.
  I have to tell you, I haven't spoken about my personal abortion ever 
publicly until this week, and the reason is because of all of those 
reasons, that are you shamed wherever you go. Even in this day and age, 
in 2022, women are still shamed. We have to stop that.
  One in four women in this country has an abortion. It is common and 
something that people do actually every day. It is a common health 
procedure.
  When I was 19 years old, I was barely halfway through college, and I 
found out I was pregnant. I was working two jobs, scrubbing floors and 
tables, to get through college. I did not have the wherewithal but, 
more importantly, I did not have the emotional ability to be supporting 
a child.
  Not only did I not have the infrastructure and the financial 
resources, but I didn't have the wherewithal. I recognized that, and it 
was a good decision. But it was still a difficult decision.
  When Republican Senators tell us that we shouldn't have agency over 
our bodies, it just reaffirms this taboo and this shame, and I have had 
enough. All done. I will not allow people to shame me or anyone else 
that has had a standard medical procedure called abortion. And I am 
going to use that word a lot more than I have in the past, I will tell 
you that.
  But I have greater concerns. In addition to having an abortion, 
having concerns about agency over body, I have real concerns for my 
trans daughter. She came down the night that that opinion was leaked 
and said: ``Mom, what does this mean?'' Do you know what? I didn't have 
a lot of really great words for her.
  When these reckless decisions are made by reckless people called 
Republican Senators and extremists in their various religions, they 
don't understand that they affect real people. That is the reason why I 
sent personal letters to all the Republican Senators, plus Mr. Manchin, 
who is in that boat of saying that everything is taboo, and we should 
be shamed, and we shouldn't have agency over our bodies. I let them 
know that we are people. My daughter and I are people, and we are all 
going to speak up.
  I just want to say one more thing about being people. We need people 
in this body who have the lived experience and have been fighting this 
fight for a long time. It is really important that we all speak up, but 
it is really important that we mobilize as a country and that all of 
these leaders in this body speak up.
  I have to tell you, I am so disgusted that I haven't slept very well 
this week at all. But here is what I do know: I cherish everybody, all 
of my colleagues, my pro-choice colleagues. I cherish Chair Maloney, 
our Progressive Caucus, all of our Democratic colleagues. I am so proud 
to be here.
  But we cannot let this happen. I know I am mobilizing. I know 
everybody in this body is mobilizing. But I refuse to receive shame, or 
to be told that I should have shame, or that I am a bad person because 
I had a regular medical procedure.
  I refuse to allow anyone to tell my daughter that she doesn't have 
agency over her body.
  I thank Chair Maloney for this opportunity tonight.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin).
  Mr. LEVIN of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairwoman Maloney for 
hosting this really important session.

[[Page H4906]]

  Mr. Speaker, I rise today with deep concern for the more than 2.2 
million Michiganders who will lose access to abortion if this extremist 
Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.
  If this draft ruling holds, Michigan will return to a 1931 law that 
makes it a felony to perform or facilitate an abortion. We must call 
laws like this what they truly are: violations of human rights and 
bodily autonomy and an egregious attack on essential healthcare 
providers.

  It must be affirmed in this House that abortion providers are 
essential and valued. They provide high-quality, compassionate, and 
necessary healthcare and deliver this care courageously, despite 
pressures, restrictions, political interference, and violent threats to 
their personal safety.
  In March, I was proud to join a group of my incredible colleagues--
Representatives Pramila Jayapal; Barbara Lee, who is going to speak 
next; Diana DeGette; Cori Bush; and Nikema Williams--to introduce the 
first-ever resolution in Congress honoring abortion providers.
  We recognized Abortion Provider Appreciation Day in the memory of Dr. 
David Gunn, who was tragically murdered outside his abortion clinic in 
Pensacola, Florida, by a white supremacist, anti-abortion extremist in 
the first known instance of a murder of an abortion provider. 
Unfortunately, it was not the last.
  I thank Representatives Jayapal, Lee, and Bush for coming forward and 
sharing their own stories about abortion, and Representative Newman, 
who just did so. Not only have they demonstrated that people make 
decisions to have an abortion for an array of reasons; they have also 
empowered other women of color and people with lived experiences to 
stand by abortion providers in this critical moment.
  Today, I want to let all abortion providers know that they are 
valued. I especially want to recognize two incredible abortion 
providers and tireless advocates in my district, Renee Chelian, the 
founder of Northland Family Planning, and her daughter, Lara. I salute 
the work these women do in spite of anti-abortion extremists who put 
Northland in the headlines locally and nationally.
  Beyond its impact on providers, of course, this ruling will have 
devastating consequences for women and transgender and nonbinary people 
and their communities all across Michigan and this country.
  Simply stated, the government has no business interfering in the 
private health decisions pregnant people make about their own bodies 
and lives in consultation with their doctors.
  Let us proclaim loudly and proudly: Abortion rights are human rights, 
and we must work toward a future where access to abortion is liberated 
from restrictions and bans universally.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee), and I thank her for her 
leadership on this issue.
  Ms. LEE of California. Mr. Speaker, first, let me thank Chairwoman 
Maloney for her tremendous leadership. Also, I just have to thank her 
for her encouragement for myself, Congresswoman Jayapal, and 
Congresswoman Bush to really step out and talk about something that I 
personally have never talked about ever because it was my own personal 
business.
  As my mother told me, that is a decision that I made between her and 
myself, and now, it looks like that liberty could be taken away.
  But even in the day--and this was way before Roe v. Wade, I had an 
abortion. The gentlewoman gave me a chance to talk about it, which is 
something I would not do because of what I just said. It was a private 
decision. But once these draconian laws started passing in the States, 
and once these trigger laws were put into place, and once I saw what 
was taking place, I was compelled to talk about it because once we tell 
these stories, what I learned was that there are so many people who 
have similar stories, men and women who came to me. People I have known 
for 30, 40 years came to me, whispered to me: I had the same 
experience. I was afraid to talk about it.
  What I am finding now is that more people are beginning to share 
their experiences. I tell you one thing: In addition to the privacy 
issue, it was about stigma.
  I was raised in a Catholic school, in the Catholic Church. Of course, 
this is a huge decision anyone has to make. Nobody wants to have to go 
through this trauma. But I did, and so many others have.
  I thank the gentlewoman for giving us a chance because that helped me 
personally. Now, we have come to such a time as this to really help 
others and to really highlight why the end of Roe could poise us to see 
the abandonment of 50 years of precedent and the first time a 
constitutional right has ever been taken away. That is unbelievable. It 
would deny millions of Americans access to abortions.
  We need to, however, reassure Americans tonight that Roe is still the 
law of the land. Abortion is still legal. But the threat of this draft 
opinion highlights why Congress preemptively should enshrine Roe into 
Federal law by abolishing the filibuster, yes, and by passing the 
Women's Health Protection Act. This really is about our personal 
liberty and our reproductive freedom. Nothing less, quite frankly, can 
be tolerated in a democracy.
  There is a whole generation of people who do not know life before 
Roe. Again, going back to the day when I was in the 11th grade, I know 
a life before Roe.
  My mother, fortunately, had a friend. I was born and raised in El 
Paso, Texas, and we moved to California. She flew me to Texas because 
once I made that decision, her friend knew a clinic in Mexico.
  Let me tell you, I was fortunate enough to survive the procedure, 
Chairwoman Maloney, but it is not lost on me that so many women who 
look like me were dying. Afterward, I thank God that I survived because 
I knew so many people haven't.

                              {time}  1715

  Abortion bans affect everyone, but their impacts fall the hardest on 
people of color, people working to make ends meet, young people, the 
LGBTQ community, people in rural communities, people who just don't 
have enough money to travel to go to another State.
  Study after study has shown that denying people access to abortion 
has devastating and long-lasting implications for their lives. I 
reiterate: people with money will have access to abortions. We are here 
tonight because everyone, no matter where they live or how much money 
they make or their background or their race or their gender identity, 
everyone should be able to make their own decisions about their bodies, 
their lives, and their futures.
  Finally, another part of this that is just outrageous is the fact 
that these decisions about our own healthcare could be criminalized. 
Can you imagine if that would happen? The thought of this is chilling. 
It is chilling.
  Even though it is a terrifying moment, it is an urgent moment. The 
public supports Roe v. Wade. Now is the time to rise up--yes--to 
galvanize and to raise our voices about our constitutional rights that 
are about to be taken away if we don't do what we need to do.
  Also, it is a slippery slope because, as I have been saying: If they 
come for me today, they are coming for you tomorrow. This is the 
beginning of the erosion of rights, such as voting rights, disability 
rights, LGBTQ rights, you just name it.
  That is not going to happen because I have a lot of hope in the 
American people. This may be a time when we have to regroup and fight 
harder. That is exactly what we are doing. I want to applaud all of our 
organizations out there who have been so adamant and so vigilant and 
prepared for this day.
  We couldn't be here tonight talking about what next if it weren't for 
them. I just have to take a moment to salute all of our grassroots 
groups who have been working day and night helping people, providing 
access, raising money, doing everything they can do to make sure that 
everyone who decides to have an abortion has access to safe and legal 
abortions.
  I thank the chairwoman for holding this Special Order. This is a 
moment that we all have to speak truth, we have to tell the truth about 
what is at stake. Also, it gives us a chance to tell the truth about 
who we are. As Members of Congress, we are people who have been through 
many of the same

[[Page H4907]]

challenges that everyone has been through.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I thank the 
gentlewoman for her leadership and courage.
  Mr. Speaker, I inquire how much time is remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Jones). The gentlewoman has 12 minutes 
remaining.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Chu).
  Ms. CHU. Mr. Speaker, I rise today during a dark time in our Nation's 
history when the right to an abortion--the fundamental right to decide 
what happens to your own body--is under threat. Today, I rise to tell 
the stories from patients and providers in my district.
  The stories I am about to tell provide a glimpse as to what life will 
be like if Roe v. Wade is indeed struck down in the final decision of 
the Supreme Court.
  These stories come from my local Planned Parenthood Pasadena and San 
Gabriel Valley who offer high quality healthcare--from STD testing to 
contraception and abortion care. Since the Supreme Court decided to 
allow State-based abortion bans to remain in place, it has become such 
an incredible resource, not only for my constituents but for those 
living in other States where abortion is not as accessible.
  Just last month, a mother of four and her husband drove all the way 
from Houston, Texas, to the Planned Parenthood Health Center in 
Pasadena, California, in my district because of Texas' draconian 
vigilante law, S.B. 8, because she was unable to get care at home 
because she was 7 weeks pregnant. This was just 1 week past the State 
limitation.
  She did not have options in Texas. She and her husband knew that 
another child was not the right choice for them. They put all four of 
their children in the car and drove for 20 hours to Pasadena. They came 
to Pasadena because after searching everywhere in surrounding States, 
the appointment in Pasadena was the soonest one she could get. She was 
not wavering in her decision. She was sure she wanted an abortion.
  She and her family spent a day and a half driving to California, a 
day in California when the procedure was done, and then had to spend 
another day and a half driving home. The time, the expense, and the 
time off work to have a 3-minute procedure done is an undue and 
egregious burden that people are already facing when trying to access 
safe and routine abortion care.
  This mother was in and out of her appointment within 2 hours from 
start to finish but had to spend over 40 hours of time and money to 
access healthcare that should be readily available to anyone who needs 
it.
  Another patient from Texas came to Planned Parenthood in Pasadena in 
March of this year. She had originally been scheduled to go to Oklahoma 
for a medication abortion but felt that she needed more time to decide 
if terminating her pregnancy was the right choice for her.
  After taking a few days to think about her decision, she lost that 
appointment in Oklahoma. She flew to California to receive a medication 
abortion at 9 weeks pregnant. She and her support person had to incur 
the cost of the flight to Los Angeles and an overnight hotel stay, as 
well as time off of work to access abortion medication.
  These are just two stories out of the hundreds of patients that 
Planned Parenthood Pasadena sees every day, but it illustrates what we 
are talking about with regard to the right to an abortion. We mean real 
people and real women with lives and jobs and families whose right to 
decide what to do with their own bodies and their own futures have been 
taken away by politicians looking to score political points. It is 
wrong. It is cruel. It is unjust.

  I will not stop fighting to enshrine abortion rights into Federal law 
and for passage of my bill, the Women's Health Protection Act, which 
this body passed in September of 2021 by a vote of 218-211, making it 
the most supported abortion rights bill in the history of Congress.
  I will continue to fight for these patients, to fight for these 
women, and to fight for the hundreds of patients like them every single 
day who deserve quality healthcare.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I thank 
Representative Chu, the founder and chair of the ASPIRE Caucus, for her 
leadership on this issue. She is the author of the Women's Health 
Protection Act, which we supported and passed in this House, and which 
we hope to pass in the Senate, and we will fight with all of our 
strength to pass eventually.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank all of my colleagues for sharing their 
stories and the stories of their constituents. I ask the public to send 
us their stories so we can read them into the Record as we talk about 
the need to protect the freedom of women to make choices about their 
own healthcare.
  I firmly believe that there is no democracy if the women in this 
country--half the population in this country--cannot make basic 
decisions about their own bodies, their own healthcare, their own 
choices, including reproductive healthcare.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank all of my colleagues that have reached out and 
said they wanted to be here tonight, but they couldn't for other 
reasons. We hope to have future speak-outs and future Special Orders.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________