[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 113 (Tuesday, July 9, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4260-S4261]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Unanimous Consent Request--S. 2024
Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I rise to urge my Democratic and
Republican colleagues to stand with the majority of Americans who
believe a woman should have the right to choose what is best for her
and her family, health, and future.
The bills we are advancing today are commonsense, straightforward
measures that will ensure more women can access the safe reproductive
care that they need and deserve. Our legislation will also ensure that
doctors can do their jobs, get the training they need to keep their
patients safe.
For 2 years, millions of women across this country have lived without
full reproductive rights, while many more live in fear that their
rights and freedoms could be on the chopping block. The overturning of
Roe v. Wade has jeopardized Americans' lives, health, and future
fertility. The Dobbs decision also forced women and their doctors to
navigate a complicated and ever-changing patchwork of laws that dictate
Americans' rights based on their ZIP codes.
For example, in my home State of Wisconsin, women were sent back to
live under an 1849 criminal abortion ban. Judges and politicians were
invited into the exam room, while lawyers told doctors how to do their
jobs. And these dire impacts reached further than exam rooms; they
reached into medical schools that are training our next generation of
doctors.
For our top-ranked medical schools, a post-Roe reality sowed chaos as
students and their instructors wondered how future doctors in our State
would have access to the full slate of training necessary to safely
practice obstetrics and gynecology.
The overturning of Roe put those medical schools' accreditations on
the line. It opened the prospect that OB/GYNs might not be trained to
provide sometimes lifesaving abortion care. No matter who you are, the
idea that doctors could graduate without the proper training to do
their jobs and save lives should scare all of us.
We also saw prospective students who might otherwise be attracted to
our top-tier research institutions reconsider starting their careers in
Wisconsin. We saw a downtick of OB/GYN residents interested in coming
to our State. And while it is disheartening to say, can you blame them?
Why would you want to start a career in a State that restricts you from
doing your job and prevents your patients from exercising their right
to control their own bodies?
That is why last year I introduced my Reproductive Health Care
Training Act, commonsense legislation to support training for
healthcare providers in abortion care, including for providers forced
to travel out of State due to abortion restrictions.
My bill with Senator Murray would help ease the burden of travel
costs for eligible medical programs to expand and support education for
students, residents, and advanced practice clinicians in States that
allow comprehensive training in abortion care.
Our legislation would also help ensure that medical programs
accommodating an influx of students have the resources they need to
provide training to students who must travel across State lines to
complete their education.
The reality of post-Roe America is that there are still countless
places in the United States where medical students cannot access
training in comprehensive reproductive care. The Reproductive Health
Care Training Act will ensure future doctors can meet the needs of
their patients and provide safe care, especially in States like
Wisconsin that have abortion restrictions.
Every woman, no matter where she lives, deserves access to
comprehensive reproductive care. The Reproductive Health Care Training
Act will ensure America's future doctors are able to provide the
sometimes lifesaving care Americans deserve.
So as in legislative session, and notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask
unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions be discharged from further consideration of S. 2024, the
Reproductive Health Care Training Act, and the Senate proceed to its
immediate consideration; further, that the bill be considered read a
third time and passed; and the motion to reconsider be considered made
and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
The Senator from Kansas.
Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, first of
all, let's discuss the title of this bill: Reproductive Health Care
Training Act of 2023. Why are my friends across the aisle afraid to use
the word ``abortion''?
This bill has nothing to do with reproductive healthcare. This is an
abortion training act of 2023. Let's just call it like it is. This is
the abortion training act of 2023.
What my colleague from Wisconsin didn't say or tell you is that this
bill is unconstitutional. This bill uses taxpayer dollars to fund a
direct pipeline of more abortions across the Nation through the
Department of Health and Human Services.
This bill establishes a program to award grants or contracts to
eligible entities for the purposes of expanding and supporting abortion
training and for preparing and encouraging--encouraging--preparing and
encouraging students to become abortionists. It encourages efforts to
train abortionists with a focus on--get this--a focus on racial and
ethnic minority groups, people with disabilities, tribal, and medically
underserved communities. Does this imply there is a priority to train
and send abortionists to these groups?
This bill authorizes $25 million to be appropriated for this abortion
training pipeline--again, against the Hyde Amendment. This is
unconstitutional.
This bill has not received any type of markup in the Health
Committee. The Federal Government should not be spending taxpayer
dollars to encourage medical students and clinicians to take life when
their principal duty, their sacred oath, is to protect life and to do
no harm from conception to natural death. Therefore, I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
The Senator from Wisconsin.
Ms. BALDWIN. Yet again my Republican colleagues have sent a clear
message to women across America. They don't think women should have the
right to control their bodies.
[[Page S4261]]
This bill would have ensured more women could access the safe
reproductive care that they need and deserve, including sometimes
lifesaving abortion care.
Instead, my colleagues have turned their back on the millions of
women in States where abortion is restricted. They have turned their
backs on millions of women who are increasingly struggling to find OB/
GYN care in their community. They have turned their back on OB/GYN
residents and students who just want to learn how to care for their
patients.
Without access to training and comprehensive reproductive care for
our doctors, more women in States like my own will live in healthcare
deserts, without the care they need to stay healthy, start a family,
and get screenings for cancer and other serious illnesses.
My Reproductive Health Care Training Act would have ensured America's
future doctors have the training they need to provide safe care,
especially in States that have abortion restrictions.
This fight is not over, and I am in it for as long as it takes to
restore a woman's freedom to make her own decisions about her health,
her family, and her future.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.