today--exactly the same. But what it does is it says to a person that
literally it violates their own conscience to be mandated to perform an
abortion but yet their company that they work for is forcing them to be
able to carry this out against their own conscience--this allows them
to be able to object and to be able to say: Someone else here needs to
perform this; I should not be required, for the fear of my own
employment, to be able to take care of living, healthy people or
hurting people that I am also being required to take the life of a
child at the same time when that violates my conscience.
  So this is a straightforward bill that, again, won't limit abortion
at all but will protect the rights of individuals to have their own
rights of conscience.
  So, Mr. President, as if in legislative session, notwithstanding rule
XXII, tonight I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged and the Senate proceed to
the immediate consideration of S. 1756; further, I ask unanimous
consent 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 Oregon.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I rise to
object to this bill, which would restrict access to vital healthcare
coverage and make healthcare more expensive for many Americans.
  Thirteen States, including my home State of Oregon, have passed laws
that require insurance companies to cover reproductive care, including
abortion services. If this became law, this proposal would override
those State laws. It would let insurance providers deny women coverage
for care they need.
  Women should make their own healthcare decisions, not politicians,
not State governments, and certainly--certainly--not insurance
companies.
  For all of these reasons, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.

                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 2524

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I rise now to offer my legislation with
Senators Tina Smith and Patty Murray to restore funding for Planned
Parenthood.
  That funding was gutted under the Republicans' budget bill passed
nearly a year ago. In that time, 23 Planned Parenthood clinics have
closed, and 75 percent of those were in rural or underserved areas.
Breast cancer exams fell by 25 percent.
  Planned Parenthood, unfortunately, has become a scapegoat for many
Republicans. In reality, these clinics provide lifesaving primary care.
They provide cancer screenings, annual exams, and testing. The majority
of these clinics serve areas where there is already a shortage of
providers. The fact is that they are a lifeline for rural Americans.
  As our country faces a nationwide healthcare provider shortage, this
body should be doing everything in its power to expand access to care
and bring down costs. Instead, many Republicans remain laser-focused on
forcing their agenda on the American people--an agenda that results in
closed clinic doors, fewer providers, and higher costs.
  The legislation that I now offer, this evening, would restore funding
for Planned Parenthood clinics. It would restore lifesaving healthcare
for millions of women, especially those living in rural areas and
healthcare deserts.
  Mr. President, therefore, as if in legislative session, I ask
unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be discharged from
further consideration of S. 2524 and the Senate proceed to its
immediate consideration; further, 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 Oklahoma.
  Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I
actually brought a bill tonight to be able to protect the conscience
rights of individual healthcare workers. It doesn't change the number
of abortions in America. It doesn't raise insurance costs. It doesn't
do anything else.
  It just says to a nurse that doesn't want to perform abortions that
her hospital can't compel her to be able to perform abortions. That
seems like a pretty reasonable bill. Obviously, my colleague disagrees
on that. But he wants to instead bring a bill that dramatically could
increase the number of abortions in America.
  There used to be a time where we used to talk about abortion being
safe, legal, and rare. That doesn't even seem to be in the conversation
anymore, and it is just how do we get more.
  Planned Parenthood did almost half a million abortions alone. And I
know there is a lot of conversation saying they do health screenings
and such. They are most known for doing abortions--about a half a
million of them. Planned Parenthood does two abortions a minute across
the United States--a minute.
  The problem is, this Planned Parenthood entity that has $2 billion in
income and nearly $2.5 billion in assets is also one that has faced
very serious allegations. One of the most recent serious allegations
came from the ``far-right'' newspaper the New York Times.
  The New York Times, which is not exactly known for being a right-
leaning periodical, did an extensive article outlining the problems
with Planned Parenthood all across the country. Let me just read to
this body part of what the New York Times printed about Planned
Parenthood.
  They talked about the botched abortions that they have done in New
York and the scores of allegations that the New York Times reviewed and
the times that they said that Planned Parenthood gave ``poor care.''
  Here is another quote from them:

       In a case settled in California last year, a woman accused
     the organization of improperly implanting a birth control
     device in her arm and causing nerve damage.
       A Nebraska clinician in 2022 did not realize that a woman
     was four months pregnant when she inserted an IUD. Several
     hours later, the patient was rushed to an emergency room and
     gave birth to a stillborn fetus.
       For months last year at the North Central States affiliate,
     which oversees the Nebraska clinic, an understaffed nursing
     department did not upload sexually transmitted infection test
     results into charts, and patients wrongly believed that their
     results were negative when they did not hear back.

  Not only is Planned Parenthood doing a half a million abortions, but
even according to the New York Times, the testing that they are doing
and the other work that they are doing, they are botching.
  This is how they listed the Omaha Planned Parenthood clinic:

       [S]ewage from a backed-up toilet seeped into the abortion
     recovery room for two days, according to interviews with
     staff members and photographs and text messages shared with
     The Times. Employees shoved exam table pads under the
     bathroom door to block the leak. Patients vomited from the
     stench.
       Sewage seeped under the door at a Planned Parenthood
     facility in Omaha last year.
       [C]linic workers complained that they were learning from
     inexperienced peers. More than a dozen said they did not
     receive adequate training for patient intake, blood draws and
     other tasks.

  They go on and on and on. It is a very long article that the New York
Times laid in there and talked about how that wealthy donors have
stepped in to be able to help fill the gaps but that Planned Parenthood
is not using that actually for healthcare; Planned Parenthood is using
the money donated to them for their political operation--not patient
care.
  So when my colleague says that Republicans don't want to provide
funding to Planned Parenthood, it is true because of not only their
medical records and for what is happening all around the country in
these locations, but this has become a political operation more than a
healthcare operation.
  We have a lot of great--I mean great--federally qualified health
centers all around the country that are doing a terrific job taking
care of families and women in many places, but they are not
specializing in abortion. Planned Parenthood is focused on abortion.
And even according to the New York Times, they are not even doing a
good job at that.
  So, yes, I do oppose this, and I do object to providing more money
for an entity that is not taking care of even what it is already doing
and is focused on taking the life of children, not protecting the lives
of families.
  I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.