Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1696596913640.pdf (United States)
May 7, 2020 The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker US House of Representatives Washington, DC 20510 Dear Speaker Pelosi, We write to express our incredible frustration as the Trump Administration, Congressional Republicans and anti-abortion state politicians continue to use this unprecedented public health crisis to restrict comprehensive reproductive health services.1 As proud members of the first pro-choice majority in the House of Representatives, we unequivocally oppose efforts to roll back access to reproductive health services, including abortion, and underscore the role that these essential services continue to play in this global pandemic.
While we are grateful for your leadership and work standing against attempts to further restrict abortion access in COVID-19 relief packages, it is critical that we continue to fight to ensure that any future relief packages reject Republican efforts to diminish access to comprehensive reproductive health care.

We must ensure that all communities are able to seek the essential and time-sensitive services they need during these difficult times.
History tells us that whenever anti-abortion politicians are able to maliciously insert harmful restrictions on comprehensive reproductive health care like abortion care, they undermine access to essential care and stigmatize those in need of abortion services.
We know that these restrictions disproportionately impact people with low incomes, Black, Latinx, Asian American and Pacific Islander and Native individuals, LGBTQ+ individuals, immigrants and individuals with disabilities and those living at the intersections of those identities.

Nobody should be denied reproductive health care simply because of who they are, where they live, their economic status, or source of insurance.
Despite the unprecedented crisis before our nation, Senate Republicans insisted on expanding the reach of the Hyde amendment in the CARES Act in an effort to punish and shame pregnant people seeking abortion care.

These efforts exacerbate increased challenges for our communities as multiple states have attempted to deny access to essential, time-sensitive abortion services since the beginning of the COVID- 19 pandemic.
Many of the same states that have been trying for decades to end abortion have now tried to exploit a crisis in an attempt to violate our constitutional rights, including Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma.

Banning abortion during the pandemic leads to increased costs for travel, navigating various state restrictions, and increased waiting time.

These bans are designed to punish and shame people seeking abortion care and can prevent people from getting care altogether.
1 Los Angeles Times, “Abortion during coronavirus: State bans, closed clinics, self-induced miscarriages,” Molly Hennessy- Fiske, April 16, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-04-16/abortion-during-coronavirus-state-bans-canceled- appointments-travel These attacks are devastating enough in a vacuum, but instead come on the heels of three years of sustained and relentless attacks by this administration on domestic and global providers of reproductive and sexual health care and the patients they serve.
From decimating the essential Title X network, to discriminating against providers and organizations because they provide or advocate for abortion care, to gutting insurance coverage of abortion - these attacks have meant that it is always the person who needs the care that suffers.

Family planning, sexual health services, and abortion are time-sensitive, essential health care.
To take a global pandemic as an opportunity to make it even harder for families with low incomes to access the care they need is disgraceful.

As Congress continues to respond to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, we must reject any further provisions that harm access to abortion care, restrict abortion coverage, or contribute to clinics shutting their doors.

These restrictions on abortion access will only further exacerbate the impact this pandemic is already placing on our most vulnerable communities.
We must reject any and all efforts to undermine comprehensive reproductive health care access.

We appreciate your consideration.
Sincerely, Ayanna Pressley Member of Congress Veronica Escobar Member of Congress Barbara Lee Member of Congress Jan Schakowsky Member of Congress Diana DeGette Member of Congress Nita Lowey Member of Congress Judy Chu Member of Congress Mark Takano Member of Congress Lisa Blunt Rochester Member of Congress Gerald E. Connolly Member of Congress Lloyd Doggett Member of Congress Sean Patrick Maloney Member of Congress A. Donald McEachin Member of Congress Jackie Speier Member of Congress Rosa L. DeLauro Member of Congress Tony Cárdenas Member of Congress Jennifer Wexton Member of Congress Sean Casten Member of Congress Ami Bera, M.D.
Member of Congress Kim Schrier, M.D.
Member of Congress Lauren Underwood Member of Congress Jason Crow Member of Congress Mike Levin Member of Congress Norma J. Torres Member of Congress Lucille Roybal-Allard Member of Congress Lucy McBath Member of Congress Andy Levin Member of Congress Susan A. Davis Member of Congress Mike Quigley Member of Congress Jimmy Gomez Member of Congress Emanuel Cleaver, II Member of Congress David Trone Member of Congress Albio Sires Member of Congress André Carson Member of Congress Scott Peters Member of Congress Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr.
Member of Congress Thomas R Suozzi Member of Congress Gregory W. Meeks Member of Congress Robert C. "Bobby" Scott Member of Congress Jesús G. "Chuy" García Member of Congress Lizzie Fletcher Member of Congress Carolyn B. Maloney Member of Congress Alcee L. Hastings Member of Congress David Scott Member of Congress Dina Titus Member of Congress Colin Z. Allred Member of Congress Adam B. Schiff Member of Congress Yvette D. Clarke Member of Congress David Price Member of Congress Zoe Lofgren Member of Congress Ted W. Lieu Member of Congress Josh Gottheimer Member of Congress Chris Pappas Member of Congress Chellie Pingree Member of Congress Bradley S. Schneider Member of Congress Kathy Castor Member of Congress Robin L. Kelly Member of Congress Brian Higgins Member of Congress Hakeem Jeffries Member of Congress Katherine Clark Member of Congress Pramila Jayapal Member of Congress Sylvia R. Garcia Member of Congress Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Member of Congress Katie Porter Member of Congress Ann Kirkpatrick Member of Congress Juan Vargas Member of Congress Al Lawson Member of Congress Jim Himes Member of Congress Max Rose Member of Congress Danny K. Davis Member of Congress Denny Heck Member of Congress Grace Meng Member of Congress Ted Deutch Member of Congress Doris O. Matsui Member of Congress Susie Lee Member of Congress Jimmy Panetta Member of Congress Paul Tonko Member of Congress Ben Ray Luján Member of Congress David N. Cicilline Member of Congress Gilbert R. Cisneros, Jr.
Member of Congress Dean Phillips Member of Congress Jared Huffman Member of Congress Ro Khanna Member of Congress Suzanne Bonamici Member of Congress Nanette Diaz Barragán Member of Congress Debbie Wasserman Schultz Member of Congress Anthony G. Brown Member of Congress Adam Smith Member of Congress Alma S. Adams, Ph.D.
Member of Congress Derek Kilmer Member of Congress Peter Welch Member of Congress Julia Brownley Member of Congress Mark Pocan Member of Congress Ed Case Member of Congress Donna E. Shalala Member of Congress Darren Soto Member of Congress Sharice L. Davids Member of Congress Joe Neguse Member of Congress Deb Haaland Member of Congress Donald S. Beyer Jr.
Member of Congress John Yarmuth Member of Congress Bonnie Watson Coleman Member of Congress Ed Perlmutter Member of Congress Ilhan Omar Member of Congress Jamie Raskin Member of Congress Marcia L. Fudge Member of Congress Peter A. DeFazio Member of Congress Jahana Hayes Member of Congress Maxine Waters Member of Congress Tim Ryan Member of Congress Daniel T. Kildee Member of Congress Betty McCollum Member of Congress Suzan DelBene Member of Congress José E. Serrano Member of Congress Cedric L. Richmond Member of Congress Linda T. Sánchez Member of Congress Marcy Kaptur Member of Congress Anna G. Eshoo Member of Congress Earl Blumenauer Member of Congress Rashida Tlaib Member of Congress Susan Wild Member of Congress Madeleine Dean Member of Congress Joseph P. Kennedy, III Member of Congress Eliot L. Engel Member of Congress Jerrold Nadler Member of Congress Ruben Gallego Member of Congress Ann McLane Kuster Member of Congress Steve Cohen Member of Congress Alan Lowenthal Member of Congress Bill Foster Member of Congress Angie Craig Member of Congress Joyce Beatty Member of Congress Rick Larsen Member of Congress Kathleen M. Rice Member of Congress Marc Veasey Member of Congress James P. McGovern Member of Congress Brad Sherman Member of Congress Al Green Member of Congress Raúl M. Grijalva Member of Congress John B. Larson Member of Congress Seth Moulton Member of Congress Dave Loebsack Member of Congress Lois Frankel Member of Congress Josh Harder Member of Congress Adriano Espaillat Member of Congress Nydia M. Velázquez Member of Congress Donald M. Payne, Jr.
Member of Congress Debbie Dingell Member of Congress Grace F. Napolitano Member of Congress Gwen Moore Member of Congress Eddie Bernice Johnson Member of Congress Salud O. Carbajal Member of Congress John P. Sarbanes Member of Congress Eleanor Holmes Norton Member of Congress Bennie G. Thompson Member of Congress Brenda L. Lawrence Member of Congress Lori Trahan Member of Congress Ron Kind Member of Congress