Source: United States Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV)
Rosen: “This year, anti-choice politicians are working to eliminate this protection from our state code, and take away Nevada women’s rights to make decisions for their own bodies. This is exactly why the Senate needs to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act today.”
VIEW/DOWNLOAD VIDEO OF FULL SPEECH HERE
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) spoke on the Senate floor urging her colleagues to take action to safeguard women’s reproductive rights. In her speech, Senator Rosen highlighted the threat from anti-choice politicians in Nevada and across the country who are working to ban abortion rights and enact strict restrictions on women’s access to comprehensive reproductive medical care. She called on the Senate to immediately pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, legislation to codify Roe v. Wade into federal law.
Senator Rosen has been a leader in fighting for women’s reproductive rights. Last week, when the Supreme Court’s opinion was reported, Senator Rosen released a statement calling for codifying Roe into federal law. Last year, she helped introduce the Women’s Health Protection Act and also signed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold Roe v. Wade.
Watch Senator Rosen’s full remarks here.
Below are Senator Rosen’s floor remarks as delivered:
Last week we learned that the United States Supreme Court is preparing to issue a ruling that would fundamentally roll back the constitutional rights of millions of American women.
It’s been reported that a group of anti-choice justices on the Supreme Court are planning to overturn Roe versus Wade — the landmark case, decided nearly fifty years ago — which recognized the reproductive rights of women.
This decision centered on one of the most fundamental rights we have as Americans: the right to control our own bodies.
For nearly half a century, Roe has protected a woman’s right to make extremely personal decisions about her own body, her own health care, and her own family.
But now, we’re seeing a clear, coordinated attempt by anti-choice politicians to roll back the clock on the rights of American women, control what happens to their bodies, and strike down reproductive freedom.
If the Supreme Court moves forward with this action, it will have immediate and devastating consequences for women’s health.
Let’s get something straight: overturning Roe is not going to stop abortions; It’s only going to stop women from getting safe abortions, and women will die as a result.
This will also have a severe impact on how miscarriages and other life-threatening medical issues related to pregnancy are handled.
For example: if Roe is overturned, ectopic pregnancies could become a death sentence for women in states that ban abortions.
That is just one example of the harm this will cause.
And this will disproportionately impact women who lack the resources to go to other states to seek care. This will also make it harder for women of color to access the care they need.
Unfortunately, many states across our country already have rigid, extreme restrictions on the books — and if Roe falls, many of those laws would go immediately into effect.
And in the states that don’t have these restrictions, extreme legislatures are pushing new, dangerous, and restrictive anti-choice laws as we speak.
In my home state of Nevada, abortion rights have been enshrined into state law since Nevadans overwhelmingly voted for it as a ballot initiative in 1990.
This means women across Nevada will continue to have access to reproductive care if Roe is overturned.
But this year, anti-choice politicians are working to eliminate this protection from our state code, and take away Nevada women’s rights to make decisions for their own bodies.
This is exactly why the Senate needs to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act today to ensure that women in all 50 states continue to have the right to make their own reproductive health care choices.
I helped introduce the Women’s Health Protection Act last year, because it is the best option we have to codify Roe versus Wade into law.
This bill will codify the right to receive and provide reproductive health care, and it will prohibit states from enacting rigid, medically-unnecessary restrictions that make it harder for women to access care.
We’re not living in a hypothetical anymore.
We are staring a post-Roe world in the face, and the time to act is now.
My colleagues on the other side of the aisle have also made it clear: If they regain control of this chamber, they will pass a national ban on abortion rights, and they may go even further.
I urge every Senator who cares about women, who cares about women’s health, their autonomy, and their rights to join me in voting to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act.
Nevadans are watching, the American people are watching, and women everywhere are depending on us.
We cannot let them down.
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