Source: United States Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn)
KLOBUCHAR: “This is about making sure women have a way to take care of themselves, especially when they’re pregnant… There is a better path forward. We pass this bill, fund family planning and save women’s lives”
WATCH KLOBUCHAR FULL FLOOR REMARKS HERE
WASHINGTON – On the Senate floor today, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) highlighted the need to pass the Expanding Access to Family Planning Act, legislation she co-sponsors to protect access to reproductive health care services by ensuring consistent funding for the Title X Family Planning Program.
“We’re back today, because if the Supreme Court won’t protect a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions, if Congress can’t agree to put the protections of Roe v. Wade into law, then everyone in this chamber has to decide whether they will protect women’s health care or not. And that includes making sure women have a right to abortion services. But it also includes having reliable access to family planning services,” said Klobuchar. “Let’s start by passing the Expanding Access to Family Planning Act to protect and expand funding for Title X clinics which support maternal health, cancer screening, contraception, and other essential health care.”
“This legislation is far from radical. The Title X program was actually created under a Republican administration, and the original bill passed with broad bipartisan support. This is about making sure women have a way to take care of themselves, especially when they’re pregnant. Right now, I’m thinking about all the women in this country facing an unacceptably uncertain future. We should all be able to agree that, at the very least, we should make sure that they have access to the basic health services that Title X provides,” Klobuchar continued. “There is a better path forward. We pass this bill, fund family planning and save women’s lives.”
In addition to Klobuchar, the legislation is led by Senators Tina Smith (D-MN), Patty Murray (D-WA), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and co-sponsored by Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ed Markey (D-MA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Mark Warner (D-VA).
Klobuchar has been a leader in protecting the privacy of personal health data. Last week, she took to the Senate floor to urge the passage of the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act, legislation she co-sponsors to protect the right to cross state lines for reproductive health care.
Earlier this month, Klobuchar and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) called on Facebook and Instagram to address the platforms’ reported censorship of posts related to abortion services.
In May, Klobuchar and Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to protect the data privacy of women seeking abortion services and other reproductive health care.
A transcript of Klobuchar’s full remarks as delivered is available below. Video is available for TV download HERE and for online viewing HERE.
Mr. President, thank you so much. Thank you, Senator Wyden for your on-point remarks and of course, Senator Murray for her incredible leadership, not only of the committee, but I’m taking this issue on and making clear to the state of Washington, yes, but also to the country that this should be a woman’s decision. A woman, her doctor’s, and her family’s decision. And not a decision made by politicians. And part of this is making sure there’s access to family planning. Since this decision has come out, I could not believe the number of women that have come up to me at home or in airports or flight attendants saying things like “is this really happening?” You mean I’m gonna have to go to another state just to get reproductive health care? So how about contraception? There’s people talking about contraception.
People all over the country have realized how extreme this decision is. And one of the people that has been leading this fight, and in fact has been leading this proposal on expanding access to family planning is my colleague, Tina Smith. And she is here in spirit today. She has a mild case of COVID. I know she’s watching right now, because she has been fighting for the rights of women to make their own decisions about health care her entire life. She’s the only Senator in the history of the U.S. Senate that actually worked at Planned Parenthood and has a firm understanding and has shown so much leadership in this area. So we thank her. So I am speaking for my constituents, of course, to thank Tina Smith for her work and her leadership.
So, as I noted, 27 days ago, the Supreme Court issued this rule, shredding nearly five decades of precedent, protecting a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions. Now women are at the mercy of a patchwork of state laws governing their ability to access reproductive care, leaving them with fewer rights than their moms and their grandmas. Last week, Senator Murray and I joined several of our Democratic colleagues, including Senator Cortez Masto, who led this bill to preserve a woman’s right to travel to other states to access reproductive care. Republicans blocked us.
So we’re back today, because if the Supreme Court won’t protect a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions, if Congress can’t agree to put the protections of Roe v. Wade into law, then everyone in this chamber has to decide whether they will protect women’s health care or not. And that includes making sure women have a right to abortion services. But it also includes having reliable access to family planning services. Let’s start by passing The Expanding Access to Family Planning Act to protect and expand funding for Title X clinics which support maternal health, cancer screening, contraception, and other essential health care. In 2020 alone, get this number, 1.5 million Americans received services through Title X. But currently, federal funding is not enough to serve the number of people who need care. And in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling attacking the freedom and the autonomy of women, it’s likely that there will be even more demand in the years ahead.
That’s why the Expanding Access to Family Planning Act gives Title X the funding needed to serve women and families for the next 10 years. This legislation is far from radical. The Title X program was actually created under a Republican administration, and the original bill passed with broad bipartisan support. This is about making sure women have a way to take care of themselves, especially when they’re pregnant. Right now, I’m thinking about all the women in this country facing an unacceptably uncertain future. We should all be able to agree that, at the very least, we should make sure that they have access to the basic health services that Title X provides – a provision that passed during a Republican administration, was created under a Republican administration that understood that women should be able to have access to health care. There is a better path forward. We pass this bill to fund family planning and save women’s lives.
I call on my colleagues to join me in supporting this necessary and completely pragmatic and sensible legislation for the women of this country. Thank you. I yield the floor.
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