[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 149 (Tuesday, September 24, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6352-S6353]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Unanimous Consent Request--S. 2152
Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I rise today in support a woman's right
to control her own body. Across the country, women have been stripped
of the freedom to make their own decisions--decisions about their
families, their health, and their futures. Judges and politicians have
inserted themselves into exam rooms, telling doctors they cannot treat
their patients, sometimes even if that treatment would save her life.
In my home State of Wisconsin, women lived for 15 months under a
criminal abortion ban that was passed in 1849, a law on the books from
1 year after our statehood and 70 years before a woman won the right to
vote. And while there were no women in the room when the statute was
crafted, 2 years ago, Wisconsin women woke up to find their healthcare
decisions would be dictated by a law that predates the Civil War. They
woke up to find out that they now had fewer rights than their mothers
and their grandmothers. That day began 15 months of confusion and chaos
and heartbreak for families across Wisconsin.
We heard stories of women bleeding out from miscarriages, developing
life-threatening infections, or being forced to carry unviable
pregnancies until they could find an appointment out of State. For
countless women, that meant driving hours, paying for lodging and
childcare, and taking time off work just to make their own decisions
about their own body.
Patients from every one of Wisconsin's 72 counties traveled to
Illinois just to access healthcare, some traveling over 500 miles.
Prior to the Dobbs
[[Page S6353]]
decision, only one in six Wisconsin abortion patients received out-of-
State care. During our criminal abortion ban, that number skyrocketed
to 9 out of 10 patients seeking care out of State.
Those families were being forced to drive, on average, 103 minutes to
exercise their right to control their own bodies and get the care they
needed, nearly double the time that they drove to access care before
Roe fell.
And I am talking here about women who could afford the more than
$1,000 in costs to access that care. We must also be aware of those who
could not. For example, patients traveling from out of State had to
fork up an average of $330 just for lodging.
In 2023 alone, Illinois and Minnesota providers saw over 6,000
patients from Wisconsin. You heard me right. Six thousand Wisconsin
women were forced to travel sometimes hundreds of miles just to access
healthcare. And even though Wisconsin has restored access to abortion
in three counties, Planned Parenthood of Illinois is still seeing three
times as many patients from Wisconsin compared to before the Dobbs
decision came down. The reality is that abortion care is still only
available in 3 of our 72 counties.
Exercising this fundamental freedom is out of reach for far too many
in America. Twenty-two States across the country have abortion bans,
and that means one in three women of reproductive age live in a State
where they cannot get the healthcare they need because politicians are
telling them that they know better.
Well, women and families deserve better. That is why last year I
introduced the Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act to give millions of
women without access to care in their home States a lifeline. This bill
would ease the tremendous financial burden Republican abortion bans
have placed squarely on women who are trying to access critical care.
Women are spending hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to pay for
travel, lodging, meals, and childcare just to make their own healthcare
decisions.
These past 2 years we have heard shocking stories of women, often
desperate for help, having nowhere to turn. Last week, we even heard
the story of a woman who died because she was denied abortion care
until it was too late.
If my colleagues insist that this issue is a decision for the States
and not for women, then I hope that they can at least recognize the
tremendous hardship their patchwork of laws has created.
The rights you have as an American should not depend upon what State
you live in. If we cannot restore Roe this Congress, we should, at the
very least, extend a lifeline to the millions of women who are unable
to access care in their own communities.
So as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged from
further consideration of S. 2152, the Reproductive Health Travel Fund
Act, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; that the
bill be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
The Senator from Alabama.
Mr. TUBERVILLE. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, if my
Democrat colleagues were honest, they would call this bill what it
really is: the ``Elective Abortion Travel Slush Fund for All Act.''
This bill authorizes 350 million taxpayer dollars for radical abortion
groups to facilitate elective abortions.
And this money isn't limited to Americans. It would also give
taxpayer money to noncitizens--illegal aliens--who are seeking
abortions. This bill would use Federal funds to cover the cost of
flights, food, hotels, and other expenses for any individual in the
United States seeking abortion, paid for by the American taxpayers. It
would even cover lost wages for those traveling to get abortion.
Fifty million dollars of taxpayer money in this bill would go
directly to groups like Planned Parenthood to pay for advertising,
website development, increasing staff, and building maintenance and
construction, all of which will go to encouraging--if not coercing--
women to get abortions, not to seek alternatives.
Now, there is a major inconvenient fact that Senate Democrats are
ignoring: The Hyde amendment is clear, no taxpayer funds may be used
for abortion. My colleagues will say: Well, no, this money isn't paying
for abortions. But let's be clear. This taxpayer money is being used
for one purpose: to take the lives of unborn children.
While the actual abortion procedures aren't covered by this bill, it
covers every other cost associated with ensuring abortions happen.
Democrats know the Hyde amendment prevents and prohibits Federal
dollars funding abortions. It has been the law of the land for 48
years. It was democratically agreed to then, and it still stands today.
Still, today, 60 percent of voters agree with the Hyde amendment--on
both sides of the aisle--that taxpayer dollars should not be used for
abortions. I am sure that percentage is even higher for illegals
getting taxpayer money for abortions.
But Democrats really don't care. Despite what they say, they will
override American voters if democracy gets in the way of their latest
leftwing pet project.
Democrats know States have democratically decided what their laws on
abortions are. Now they are trying to override the will of the people
and the will of the States by using the Federal Government and millions
of taxpayer dollars to achieve their goal. This is not only counter to
the spirit of the Hyde amendment, it is contrary to the principles of
federalism and the will of the American people.
As I pointed out for months last year with a similar illegal abortion
policy Secretary Lloyd Austin implemented at the Department of Defense,
no Agency--no Agency--is above the law. I called out the VA for
implementing another illegal abortion policy.
This bill is just another page--another page--out of the Democrats'
same extreme abortion playbook. This bill is a flimsy attempt to go
around the law of the land.
Gone are the days of the Democrats saying abortions should be safe,
legal, and rare. Democrats today want dangerous, illegal, and limitless
abortions at any cost--any cost--to the American taxpayers.
So for that reason, Mr. President, I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
The Senator from Wisconsin.
Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I am disappointed with the objection and
will agree with the Senator on one point, which is that this bill does
not fund abortion.
The Senator referred to democratically passed laws relating to this
subject, and I just wanted to remind him once more what I said in my
opening statement: In Wisconsin, women lived for 15 months under a
criminal abortion ban that was passed in 1849--70 years before women
had the right to vote, before the Civil War. Obviously women had no
input in that democratically enacted law.
But this bill simply breaks down a barrier that Americans are facing
to access sometimes lifesaving care, a financial barrier, I might add,
that Republicans put up when they inserted themselves into our exam
rooms and into women's personal decisions.
I hope my Republican colleagues understand that women take notice
when you vote down bills that protect and defend their basic freedoms.
They see who is fighting for their right to control their bodies,
health, families, and future.
I am proud to be standing here today on their behalf. This issue is
not going away. We are going to keep fighting day in and day out
because women want their rights and freedoms back.
Some of my colleagues are claiming that this is merely a messaging
bill. Well, send Americans the message that you support their decisions
to make their own healthcare choices and pass this bill into law.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
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