[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6263]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               CELEBRATING NATIONAL WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, as we gather to celebrate National Women's 
History Month, I rise to recognize not only the contributions of all 
women, but most importantly, the work of my constituents that made this 
month possible.
  Sonoma County, in my district, is the birthplace of the National 
Women's History Project, the nonprofit education organization that is 
responsible for establishing Women's History Month.
  In 1978, the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission on 
the Status of Women initiated a Women's History Week under my tutelage. 
I was the Chair, actually, of the commission at that time. Later, in 
1987, with the help of museums, libraries, educators across the 
country, the National Women's History Project petitioned Congress to 
expand the celebration to the entire month of March. A resolution 
recognizing Women's History Month was quickly passed with strong 
bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate.
  Since that time, Women's History Month has provided a perfect 
opportunity to discuss and honor the contributions that women have made 
throughout the history of our Nation, both here in our capital and in 
our classrooms.
  There are so many remarkable accomplishments that deserve mention, 
from the fight for suffrage and reproductive freedom, to efforts to 
give women and girls equal access to education and employment 
opportunities. We have come so far in so very many ways; and, yet, Mr. 
Speaker, we seem to be losing ground on so much of the precious 
progress we have made.
  Since we last celebrated National Women's History Month, the 
President has signed a bill criminalizing a safe and accepted medical 
procedure for the first time ever. Legislators have now inserted 
themselves into the difficult medical decisions that should be left to 
a woman, her family, and her doctor. To add insult to injury, the 
Justice Department is seeking permission, permission, to rifle through 
women's personal medical records in the State Department's attempt to 
uphold this intrusive law.
  These violations of privacy are without precedent and are simply, 
simply unacceptable. Women have worked too hard. They have fought too 
long to be told that they are not allowed to undergo a medical 
procedure recommended by their doctor, and that the Justice Department 
and their lawyers have the right to examine women's medical records.
  It is not enough to devote a month every year to celebrating the 
progress that women have made in the battles that we have won. If we do 
not stand up after these recent impositions and insist on our right to 
make decisions about our own bodies, when will we? How many more 
restrictions must be placed on us before we insist that this must stop?
  Well, on April 25 of this year, this month, actually, hundreds of 
thousands of women, men and children will come to Washington, D.C. to 
do just that. We will speak out, because women deserve accurate and 
balanced information about their reproductive options. We will speak 
out, because women deserve access to contraception and prenatal care.
  These services are not a luxury for women. They are truly a matter of 
life or death. At the march on April 25, we will clearly convey that 
protecting women's lives is of paramount importance for Americans from 
all walks of life.
  I look forward to being part of this truly historic gathering and 
joining with my colleagues, constituents, and people from all over the 
world to show the United States that we care about women's lives in 
America.
  When we gather this time next year to recognize National Women's 
History Month, we will be able to list the 2004 March for Women's Lives 
as another notable accomplishment; and even more importantly, I hope we 
will be able to say that we have stopped the tide of anti-choice 
restrictions, to say that our private medical records will remain 
private, and to say that we have the right to undergo medical 
procedures recommended by our doctors.
  In honor of National Women's History Month, we must not only remember 
the accomplishments of the women who have come before us; we must also 
commit to the protection of that progress on behalf of the women who 
will come after us.

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