[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 1171]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1230
                    STOP THE CRADLE-TO-GRAVE NEGLECT

  (Ms. WILSON of Florida asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. WILSON of Florida. Madam Speaker, as the House begins 
consideration of H.R. 7, I rise in solidarity with the women of the 
world. I rise in outrage at yet another attempt to control our bodies 
and our access to quality care.
  Madam Speaker, it is my body. It doesn't belong to this House. I 
alone bear the burden, pain, and joy that it brings. Please stop trying 
to regulate my reproductive organs. They belong to me.
  Have you ever had a menstrual period? Have you ever felt the 
unbearable pain in every bone of your body during childbirth?
  Madam Speaker, there are millions of mothers living in inadequate 
public housing and trailer parks, raising their children alone. And we 
are here to consider anti-choice bills that restrict access to women's 
care?
  If the Republican House passes H.R. 7, will it support universal pre-
K and Head Start? Will this House reform foster care and stop greasing 
the prison pipeline with unwanted children?
  It seems to me that this Republican House cares about babies right up 
until the minute they are born into the world, and then they disappear 
and desert the children forever. It is time to stop the cradle-to-grave 
neglect.
  How many more anti-choice bills do we need to put on the floor before 
we do what is important to build a society?
  Madam Speaker, we need to give women and their families and their 
doctors the ability to make decisions for their bodies. Leave my body 
alone.

                          ____________________