[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 120 (Wednesday, July 20, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H6888-H6889]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             ABORTION STORY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Nevada (Mrs. Lee) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. LEE of Nevada. Madam Speaker, in the wake of the Supreme Court's 
destructive decision overturning Roe v. Wade, women across this country 
have shared their stories. From Facebook to the dinner table to streets 
in protest, women have shared the details of the deeply personal and 
often difficult moments in which they exercised their right to choose.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today to share the story of a constituent of 
mine named Misty.
  His name was Miles. I knew something was wrong at 12 to 16 weeks. At 
20 weeks, it was too late. I spent a terrible night in the ER 
hemorrhaging. Miles survived that incident and there was still a 
heartbeat. The next day was traumatic at an ultrasound.
  I had lost so much fluid and Miles was being smashed. They said that 
he wasn't getting the blood he needed to his kidneys and other places. 
They literally sent me home to wait for him to die. There was still a 
heartbeat at 20 weeks, but I was informed that Miles could not live to 
full term and that I would have to deliver conventionally if I had made 
it to 24 weeks.
  The news continued to get worse, and I waited. That was the longest 
week of my life. I waited through fear, depression, anxiety, and 
immense sadness. At the end of that week, I decided, with my fetal 
medicine specialist, to terminate the pregnancy. It was one of the 
toughest decisions I have ever faced.
  The trauma that I would have experienced by delivering a dead baby, 
Miles, would have been more than I could handle. Going to the doctor 
every other day and seeing him dying was enough to make me realize 
this.
  Misty closes by saying: We are not careless, immoral, or monsters.

[[Page H6889]]

  Madam Speaker, I stand with Misty, and I stand with her right to make 
her decision. The trauma and pain that women like Misty face in these 
moments should be met with care, compassion, and the right to privacy.
  But instead, my colleagues on the right would rather inflict more 
trauma during what can be an extremely challenging moment in a woman's 
life: forcing them to cross State lines to access abortion; forcing 
them to give birth when it threatens their health, their mental health, 
and their financial well-being; forcing them to defend miscarriages in 
front of a court of law; forcing young girls to carry a pregnancy to 
term that is the result of a sexual assault or rape.
  We cannot become complicit in the destructiveness of these extreme 
policies. Behind each pro-life policy are the very real and very 
personal stories of women whose lives will be forever turned upside 
down. I thank Misty for her story, but she shouldn't have to share it.
  For 50 years, the law of the land respected individual choice and 
privacy. In Nevada, our law still reflects that today, but tomorrow may 
look different.
  National Republicans stand ready to ban and restrict abortion 
nationwide, even in States like Nevada where the right to choose is 
protected by law. Just last week, on this very same House floor, they 
lined up in droves to talk about it.
  The reality of a nationwide abortion ban is far more likely than you 
may think. I am not going to stand by and watch, and that is why I was 
so proud to vote for the Women's Health Protection Act, and, equally, 
to vote in the next few days on the Right to Contraception Act.
  Madam Speaker, I will continue to do everything in my power to 
protect your right to choose.

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