[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 19, 2023)] [Senate] [Pages S1236-S1238] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Date: 2023-04-19
Chamber: SENATE
Mrs. MURRAY: ever since Republicans succeeded in overturning Roe v. Wade and ripping abortion rights away from millions of women, they have been trying to hide how extreme their positions on abortion are and how devastating the fallout has been for families. Even as each new day brings another horror driven by Republican extremists, like the dystopian bill put forward in South Carolina which proposed the death penalty for women who get an abortion, one of my colleagues even recently said that as President, he would ``literally sign the most conservative pro-life legislation.'' Let's not forget the terrifying lawsuit in Texas that is hanging over the entire country, where Republican extremists want to overrule the FDA's experts, undermine its authority to review and approve all manner of drugs, from chemotherapy to insulin, and take the abortion pill mifepristone away from patients all across the country, even in States like mine where abortion is still legal and even though we have 20 years of data showing this drug is safe and effective. Yet, when the district judge issued a dangerous ruling that would rip this drug off the shelf, 69 congressional Republicans filed a brief calling for that ruling to go into effect and deny women in every single State access to this FDA-approved medication. The Supreme Court has stayed the decision for the time being, but this threat to women's ability to get this drug is as real as ever, and now 147 congressional Republicans--many Republicans who are in leadership, Republicans with oversight authority over the FDA--have filed a brief opposing our efforts to protect access to mifepristone and protect the FDA's authority. And this extreme lawsuit is far from the only dangerous anti-abortion policy some congressional Republicans are pushing, as is the bill we are about to vote on today. It has been incredibly infuriating for women to be told by Republicans that we are overreacting, fearmongering, even as we are being told by patients and providers about the nightmares they are now living in, about the impossible decisions they have had to make, and about the decisions--the deeply personal decisions--they have not been allowed to make that Republican politicians are, instead, now making for them. It strains belief that Republicans actually think victims of rape or incest are not being affected by their policies and that women whose health--whose very lives--are in danger are not facing any barriers or are being denied the care they need, especially when we see news stories reported every day showing that that is not the case--stories that show women are being put in horrific, unthinkable situations, forced to travel absurd distances for care after they are raped, forced to wait and bleed and get sicker and sicker before they can get the care they desperately need. But even if Republicans are ignoring the devastation State abortion bans are causing and are ignoring women who are speaking out every single day, what we are talking about today in this Senate is a bill congressional Republicans wrote themselves. It really puts an end, once and for all, to some Republicans' empty claims that they are being moderate in any way here. Victims of rape or women with medical complications are not being heard, because this bill, which Republicans wrote, which Republicans are coming to the floor advocating for, would cut veterans and their families off from care when their lives are in danger and would cut them off from care after rape or incest. Make no mistake, that is what this debate is about today. That is what they are voting for. In arguing for this bill, they are also showing they know full well how extreme State bans actually are. After all, they cannot pretend that, on the one hand, State abortion bans have meaningful exemptions for women with life-threatening complications and for people who have been raped, including children, while also arguing, on the other hand, that this proposal defies State laws to allow the VA to provide care in those heartbreaking situations. Those arguments contradict each other. More importantly, those claims contradict the real, heartbreaking stories we are already hearing from women and doctors about how these bans are putting lives at risk. Extreme abortion bans are causing healthcare crises all across the country, along with so many personal crises for families in facing incredibly difficult situations, which is why the VA care rule that President Biden put forward is so important and why the Democrats are standing so firm to keep it intact. Despite the rhetoric from my Republican colleagues, this rule that they are trying to overturn is a meaningful, modest step to protect our veterans. It simply allows the VA to provide abortion care to make sure that none of our veterans or their eligible dependents go without medical treatment when their lives are in danger or are forced to stay pregnant after rape or incest.  That is it. That is what Republicans are so upset about. They are upset that this administration has taken action to make sure women who have served our country in uniform can get the basic reproductive care they need whentheir health is at risk or in cases of rape or incest. Those veterans fought to protect our rights, and now Republicans want to roll back theirs. These veterans put their lives on the line for us, and now Republicans who support this resolution want to tell them that when their lives are in danger, tough luck. Politics comes first. No one--no one--deserves that. So I urge all of my colleagues to stand with our veterans, to stand with their families, and vote against this unthinkably cruel bill that seeks to force women veterans to stay pregnant even when their lives are at risk, even after rape or incest. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senators Tuberville and Schumer be permitted to complete their remarks prior to the rollcall vote.