[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 10 (Thursday, January 18, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H196-H197]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  PROTECTING HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF MOTHERS AND CHILDREN ACROSS OUR 
                                 NATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Virginia (Ms. McClellan) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today ahead of the 51st 
anniversary of Roe v. Wade to urge my colleagues to take action to 
protect reproductive freedom, which has been under assault since the 
United States Supreme Court overturned Roe in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson 
Women's Health Organization.
  I was 1 month old when the Roe decision came down, and I had peace of 
mind when entering my childbearing years that any decision on when to 
become a mother would be mine, and that any pregnancy-related decisions 
that I had to make would be between me, my partner, and my medical 
provider.
  Thirteen years ago, I became the first member of the Virginia House 
of Delegates to be pregnant while in office. As a Black woman in a 
Nation grappling with a maternal and infant health crisis, I researched 
everything that could go right and everything that could wrong.
  The conversations with my OB opened my eyes to the impact that 
abortion restrictions can have on pregnancy management decisions, and 
my doctor shared stories.
  My doctor shared stories like Suzie, a married 30-something with a 
hole in her heart who was on birth control but got pregnant anyway; or 
Beth, a pregnant woman who developed cancer.
  Each faced a heartbreaking choice of whether to terminate the 
pregnancy or sacrifice her life.
  There was Mary, who underwent fertility treatments to have a child 
and got pregnant with octuplets. The odds of carrying the pregnancy 
were very low, but if she reduced the pregnancy to two, the odds were 
better than 50/50 that both would survive.
  There was Amy, who suffered an incomplete or missed miscarriage in 
which the fetus dies but remains in the uterus. Often a medical 
procedure, an abortion, is required to remove the fetus and the 
placenta to avoid infection, sepsis, and death.
  There was Robin, whose fetus developed the most severe form of spina 
bifida, with horrific deformities. Her doctor suspected that the baby 
was already paralyzed from the waist down, and that the paralysis would 
spread as he grew. He was not expected to survive.
  I heard story after story, and I thought about how the abortion 
restrictions that I saw proposed then in Virginia and across the 
country would have taken away decisions on the best course of treatment 
for those patients.
  In today's post-Dobbs world, we are witnessing the devastating 
impacts of restrictive abortion laws on mothers and families across the 
United States right now.
  This anniversary of Roe is an important reminder that we must 
continue fighting to ensure that every American has access to 
comprehensive reproductive healthcare, and that we do not insert the 
judgment of politicians in State legislatures or here in Washington for 
those of the healthcare providers' and patients' judgment.
  During my second pregnancy, I had placenta previa. I was aware of the 
risks associated with it, but that didn't stop me from being terrified 
when, 9 weeks before my due date, my placenta ruptured. I was rushed 
into the hospital and had an emergency C-section.
  Both my daughter and I nearly died.
  It was one of the scariest days of my life. However, I had peace of 
mind

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knowing that my doctor in that moment would make the decision she felt 
best to provide the treatment necessary based on the standard of care 
without fear of punishment from politicians if things went wrong.

  Thankfully, that delivery was successful and many of you have come to 
know my daughter, Samantha, as a thriving, precocious, healthy little 
girl.
  However, when she reaches childbearing years, will she have fewer 
rights than I did when I gave birth to her?
  That very thought makes me furious. It makes me livid that I am the 
first member of my family to lose a constitutional right in my 
lifetime. That reality has motivated me more than ever to protect 
reproductive freedom just as I did as a State legislator, passing 
legislation that makes Virginia the only State in the South without an 
abortion ban or extreme restrictions post-Dobbs.
  I will continue to fight for reproductive freedom for patients and 
providers to make the choice they believe is best given their necessary 
circumstances without interference from Washington or State 
legislatures.

                          ____________________