Transcripts For CSPAN2 House 20240704

Good afternoon. Thank you, Ranking Member and my fellow cohost for convening this democratic the democratic members of the Oversight Committee to publicly and proudly defend access to medication abortion. I want to thank all of the members who are here and those that are on their way. We have congresswoman norton who i believe came in and then to all of our panelist. We are here to show you what abortion care can look like. What abortion can look like. This, this is what an abortion looks like. This is it. One pill with four pills. This is an abortion. Many of you know me as a congresswoman, but i am also a nurse. It is through that lens that i approach todays conversation. As a nurse ive cared for patients with chronic migraines and administered medications to alleviate their pain. I have cared for patients with infections and administered antibiotics for treatment. Ive cared for patients with depressants and administered medication to ease their suffering. Medicine is a essential form of healthcare. Life saving. These medications, these five pills are safe. These five pills are effective. Medication Abortion Pills like this one safe again, effective again, no different than any other medication that is safe and effective. The fda has cleared it effective and safe for the past 23 years. Using it together with another drug is a 97. 7 effective way to terminate a pregnancy. It is used world wide and already accounts for over 50 of abortions in this country. Medication abortion is a lifeline. A lifeline for the person working multiple jobs that cannot afford to take a day off work because wages are too low or they do not have paid sick leave. A lifeline for the mom of two who cannot afford childcare or cannot find that affordable childcare. It is a lifeline for the person who lives hundreds of miles away from the nearest clinic and does not have reliable transportation. It is a lifeline for the trans folks who face trans phobia and bigotry because of antilgbt plus laws and outrageous bands on gender affirming care. These are not hypotheticals. These are real stories from real people. Like those you here today. Four folks like those that i have mentioned, they can take these five pills in the privacy of their own home where they are not confronted by a picket line. They are not confronted by a hostile crowd of antiabortion protesters harassing them and spewing hate. Banning medication abortion would be like placing a ban on tylenol. A ban on antibiotics. There is no scientific, no valid medical reason to do so. It is only political propaganda. During the covid19 pandemic, restrictions on drugs listed. Letting people get Abortion Pills via mail with the telehealth provider. Hundreds of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people did that. It is precisely because it is so safe and it is so effective. Antiabortion politicians are attracting this drug. If they flagged mine, people are forced to find Abortion Pills online where they are cheap and they are widely available. But it should not have to be that way. You should be able to get it as easily as any other safe, and any other common widely used medication. You should be able to get it at your pharmacy. You should be able to get it in a doctors office. Despite what the Antiabortion Movement says. Abortion is not uncommon. It is not complicated. It is not dangerous. What is actually dangerous, what is really dangerous is forcing people, especially black women, to give birth in our country despite accounting for only 15 of live births. Black women are over three times more likely to die from pregnancy related causes than white women. In missouri, you are over 25 times more likely, 25 times more likely to die from giving birth then taking Abortion Pills. So, in restrictive state like mine, medication abortion quite literally saves lives. Forced birth can be deadly. Every person should be able to decide for themselves whether to carry a pregnancy to term or to seek abortion care. That is why i am proud to have reintroduced with senator tina smith protecting access to medication abortion act which would protect patients access to Abortion Pills. They were necessary before dobbs bill and even more essential now. Dobbs was not the end goal for those that want to take away our rights. We know that the judges recent decision to ban this drug is only the beginning. We need to inform the Supreme Court because the Current Court is a Lawless Institution that continues to pose a danger to our democracy. These far right ultra corrupt out of justices are making decisions based on the bidding of their donors, not based on the rule of law. As we side with dobbs it is our most marginalized community that paid the biggest price. We will not let unelected judges and antiabortion lawmakers strip away our rights. We stay quiet. For hundreds of thousands of people. Including many of my own constituents. It is essential, it is life saving healthcare. These five pills. Life saving healthcare. Now, i will yield to my colleague from texas. Thank you so much, madame congresswoman. Thank you so much to each of you here today. Especially our witnesses. I have my prepared remarks. Bear with me. Because what i want to be clear is that the democrats, while understanding the makeup of this court as it has been outlined by the congresswoman, we want the American People to know that we hear you. We know what the numbers show. We will continue to fight. We will not fight with conspiracies, we will not stoke fears with lies. We will fight with facts. That is exactly why we now have our own hearing because the people that are in control, they seemingly are allergic to facts. But the facts are that we already knew what the outcomes would look like. If roe v wade was overturned. Because there are those that remember a time before roe v wade. They know exactly what happens. It is sad that we live in a country that is supposed to be an example for the entire world, but when it comes to women in this country, for some reason, there are those that have decided we will be nothing more than second rate citizens. I am telling you, as a black woman in this country, i refused to become a second rate citizen. So, we know that our reproductive rights are being attacked at every level by the radical right. If someone from the state of texas, you all know i know a little too well, this, of course is not the first time we have seen these attacks, but make no mistake we are facing the time where they are trying to make men control every aspects of a womans bodily decisions. These aspects are not without legal consequences. Roughly one third of women reproductive age are living in the 14 states that have abortion bands. This is on top of abortion being severely restricted in an additional six states. As a result, 14 is more than 200 miles from the nearest Reproductive Health facility. The average being 86 miles. I will stop there because i know these amazing people here will tell you all about it. One of the things we have seen, i was serving in the texas house when they decided they wanted to introduce the vigilante bill. This is the bill that said if you see a woman going anywhere near an Abortion Clinic you can soothe the uber driver, you can sue the checkin nurse and you would get 10,000 just because you saw it. It was not your business in the first place. We try to talk about things that Ranking Member raskin and i know very well about. The republicans did not care about the rule of law or the principles. That is exactly how we ended up with the texas case. The case that kicked all of this off. But i want you to, and i am shortening my remarks a lot. But i want to hit on certain high notes. I want to make sure we get to our amazing Ranking Member and other esteemed members. People really disgraceful. Reversing the right of women as we know them. That is while we still have roe v wade. Ultimately how they go. They went straight to texas. They filed their first attempt at a National Abortion ban. Even though they wanted to return all of the power to the state as soon as they got the decision they decided nevermind we want to go one step further. The history of texas. Roe v wade is a texas case. Right the district attorney. He was sued. He was actually sued by a young lawyer by the name of weddington. He was so moved by what was going on deciding to run for the texas state house. As a freshman on the house floor in february of that year she got a call. We have phones at our desk. She got a call on the house floor and it was about the roe v wade decision. Twentysix years old. I cannot imagine. I got out of law school at 25. I cannot imagine arguing a case that would be so argue mental. Not just for texas women, but women as a whole, not only in this country, but in this world. She did that. That is a kind of courage that we have that come out of texas women. As a texas woman, i am not giving up. We will fight this to the end and we will get texas back to the good and rich condition that it started with. One that promoted womens rights and womens access to the Reproductive Health that they deserve. With that, i will yield. Thank you, representative crockett for those remarks. I want to thank my colleague representative bush for her great leadership on this. I want to thank her in st. Louis for her leadership on this. I want to thank her for sending mesh bush to speak. She is what we need in congress. Not just the legislator, but in organizer. She is also, a nurse, by the way at her recent touch with lymphoma. She is here with anything i would need. That meant so much to me. Thank you for that, cory. It has been more than a year now that our Supreme Court, the most corrupt Supreme Court we have had in america and more than a century toppled more than a halfcentury of precedent. In that time, it has become clear that the right wing right abortion is a war on healthcare itself. You can see that in a couple of different ways. You can see it by who these bands are accepting around the country. You can also see it by virtue of the fact that colleagues used to be so divisive for us in announcing abortion have now fallen strangely silent and the cat has taught their tongue. Let me tell you about a few cases going around in the real world and womens healthcare. One woman in the midwest had a lifethreatening Ectopic Pregnancy which is a condition where the fetus develops outside of the uterus and will never become viable. It is not a viable pregnancy, but it is very dangerous. She could not get anyone in her home state, which is a gilead state where the right wing have shut down womens access to healthcare. She had to flee to the university of michigan to go to the emergency room they are 700 miles away in order to get treatment for her Ectopic Pregnancy. Her situation is representative of that of hundreds of cases of women like that hell have ectopic pregnancies but cannot get treatment in their home state because of the sweeping categorical bans on abortion that have been passed. A woman in wisconsin was forced to bleed at home for more than 10 days following and incomplete miscarriage because hospital staff in her state were terrified that removing the remaining fetal tissue would violate the states abortion ban and expose them to criminal arrest and prosecution. In kansas city, one hospital imposed a new obligation for explicit pharmacist approval for the first time before they would dispense medications used to stop postpartum hemorrhaging because the same drug could also be used four abortions. Now the antiabortion laws and regulations are having a spillover effect on women not even going in for abortion but going in for other kinds of care but now are being affected. The roundtable is timely because of the fifth circuits ongoing litigation. The drug that is most commonly used medication will abortions now. More than 5 million american women have safely used it in more than two decades since the fda approved it. It is safe, it is effective. Beyond abortion, it is used to treat, hundred chronic conditions. We are seeing the spillover effect generally by the attempt to destroy womens access to abortion. Another thing that i wanted to point out is i was elected in 2016, the same night that donald trump was elected, so i have been here since 2017. For my first several years here before the Dobbs Decision, i could go by the Oversight Committee without hearing my republican colleagues in announcing abortion, denouncing roe versus wade, calling abortion murder, calling abortion genocide, likening it to the holocaust, but after the Dobbs Decision, when the vote started to be taken in a lot of states like in kansas, like in wisconsin, huge prochoice majorities have formed around the country to tell the right wing forces that america is a country based on personal freedom and being able to make your own decisions and not having theocrat politicians in the state capital boss you around. They are suddenly all fallen silent. They know that they have struck the rock in the rock is a women of america who will not stand for secondclass citizenship and secondclass treatment. You have a lot of allies in my gender, too. I am happy to be here today to hear from these exceptional witnesses that traveled all the way from across the country to be with us. I just wanted to thank them for the efforts he made to be here today. I turn it back to you, miss bush, to kick it off. And we see why you are our Ranking Member. [laughter] all right. First, we want to acknowledge our members that walked in. We will be turning to you shortly. Now, i would like to turn to our panelist for your opening remarks. We will start with reverend doctor love Hope Community manager at prochoice missouri. Good afternoon. I use she her pronouns. Thank you. I am a mother of five children. I am from st. Louis missouri, born and raised. I am also an abortion storyteller. I organize black and brown earth workers, do laws and community for the fight for community productive freedom. I want to thank cory bush, crockett as well as oversight Ranking Member raskin. It means a world to be here today. This opportunity is bigger than me. This is about my community. Just over a year ago when the Dobbs Decision overturned roe v wade, missouri was one of the first states in the country to make providing abortion care a felony and criminal offense. The only abortion allowed our medical emergencies. It is still not very clear on the definition of what that a medical emergency is. It is very significant, as you heard. The story falls right in this gray area. January 20, 2023, i was rushed off to the er for severe blood loss. In and out of consciousness in the lobby for several minutes as blood began dripping down my leg. I sat in that wheelchair and instead of thinking about survival, i thought about not going to jail. I told myself to make sure you tell the staff that you are having a miscarriage, but i knew i was having an abortion. I also knew that that medication pill needed to be taken orally because it showed up like a miscarriage in front of the doctors. I realized my cycle was late earlier that month. I called myself because i am an advocate. I felt like i had all the resources, all the answers out my reach. I got in touch with my ob and made an appointment. An ultrasound revealed i was eight weeks and out for weeks along as i had assumed. I called for an medication abortion. This would be a medical procedure that required more resources that i just did not have as a working single mother. So, i could not get that discrete safe private Cost Effective process that i wanted if i had to go through the surgical procedure. I found options to have the pills mailed. I ordered them quickly and i saw took about twofour weeks to arrive. I was so desperate, so back into a corner i went ahead and place the order. The first were stolen in the mail so i placed a second set. It took about 18 days to arrive. By that time i was approximately 13 weeks and six days. If you know anything about medication abortion it is the safest and most effective before 13 weeks. So, cutting it very close. The pills arrived and i took my dose. Within 30 minutes, 45 minutes, i was cramping, bleeding, tissue started to pass, blood clots were happening. I thought it was over and yet the worst was yet to come. I continue to soak through my clothing. I became lightheaded. I went to my car because i could not traumatize my children. After about one hour of not returning they called my mom and she found me and my car unresponsive. Completely covered in blood. They rushed me off to receive a dnc at a catholic hospital. I could not choose where to go. They made me extremely uncomfortable when they tried to generalize tissues and take me through this process that i wish was not even happening. Today i share my story thank you because it is very extreme. They are racist and bright now, there are several missourians who need abortions that are forced to flee because they cannot get that safe and discrete care that i was seeking. Right now missourians who need abortions who are being forced to carry pregnancies to term against their will. Against their health. Mental health, their life circumstances. Their income. With our state seeing some of the highest rates, especially in black and brown communities, it is basically a crisis. Not only do missourians face high numbers of violence, but this current legal battle only furthers the devastation missourians already face. They have some of the most severe barriers including taxes and this entire country. My community suffers because of these attacks. Surrounding communities will suffer because forcing people to carry unwanted pregnancies drive people into further issues of poverty and poverty gives birth to violence. Survival mode that makes people unpredictable and they do things that they normally would not do like me. Hardworking mother of five. Doing everything that i can to make sure we can contribute to this country. I almost lost my life that they. I would have left my children, my black children alone in this cruel cold world to navigate it alone. Nobody to protect them, nobody to support them. The Dobbs Decision is a death sentence for thousands of black women and birthing people alone in missouri. I want you to take a second and consider what will happen if this ban is national. How many people will die and suffer at the hands of the consequences of not having access to safe medical abortion. Consider if this becomes furthermore out of reach due to political attacks how each and every one of us will feel. Thank you so much again for this time. We thank you for sharing, doctor love. This is why it was important to hold this ground table. We will definitely be coming back with questions for you. Now, we will turn to another drd chief executive officer at physicians for Reproductive Health who is also practicing. Thank you so much. Hello to you all. Ranking member raskin, congresswoman crockett ambush and distinguished members of the Oversight Committee. It is my honor to be here. Thank you for inviting me. Thank you to reverend doctor holt for sharing your story. I was taking care of patients. I was taking care of patients last week on thursday. I hear patient stories all the time. I think that it is so critical that you all care what people are living through. It is an honor to be here with you. I use she her pronouns. I am in ob gyn. I am a Abortion Provider here in the district of columbia. I am also of the president and ceo of physicians for Public Health. Working to organize immobilized providers to advance access to comprehensive Reproductive Health care for the communities that we serve. I am not here today for me. Not even at the head of Reproductive Health and rights organization. What im here for the people that i care for in my community. I provide essential healthcare in the community that raised me. The community that made me. Abortion is essential healthcare whether people are accessing this care in the first weeks of pregnancy or later in pregnancy, it is my privilege to care for them. I do not believe that i can accurately communicate what this year has been like for people providing and those seeking abortion care in this country. We just passed, as you well know, the oneyear mark of the anniversary of the Dobbs Decision which overturned 50 years of legal precedent and remove protections around abortion care upending the entire abortion landscape. We have been forced to watch and grapple with devastating consequences since this decision. We know from recent data that thousands of people have been forced to remain pregnant and many have experienced harm as a result. We have long known that people that were denied abortion care are more likely to experience serious medical conditions particularly towards the end of their pregnancy, like high blood pressure. More likely to remain in relationships where violence is present. More likely to experience or to remain in poverty. Research also shows that states with higher numbers of abortion restrictions are the very same states with poor maternal and infant health outcomes. The risk of patients healthcare is only becoming more dire as states ban abortion care. Access to incredibly safe medications used in abortion and care are under threat. I have the privilege of practicing in washington, d. C. In the district Abortion Access is currently protected. Although the lack of statehood means there is no guarantee that it will remain that way. I am also preparing for patients traveling from all around this country. I have seen and continue to see how dramatically the care i am able to provide, the care people receive can vary based on the walls in which the state they reside. I do not have to deal with medically unnecessary bans or restrictions on Abortion Access, i can focus on doing what i am trained to do. Providing care. Safe, compassionate, evidencebased care for the people in front of me. It is heartbreaking that people will not be able to access the same care as those living in other states, cities, communities. Out because their providers dont have the skills or knowledge, but because they are prohibited from doing so by abortion bands that are solely based on politics. While it is a relief that the lower courts decision is currently on hold, should the court ultimately determined to undermine the fda approval process, it will have dire consequences. It will not matter if you live in a socalled blue state or the laws of your state are protective of Abortion Access. We are incredibly fearful of what undermining access will mean for people throughout this country. What many do not realize is that while medication abortion using this with or without is safe and effective way to end a pregnancy it is also used as a multistep process for abortion and miscarriage care later in pregnancy. Access to this drug allows people needing care to go back to their families, back to their lives sooner. It means they dont have to take another day off work, pay for accommodations if they are traveling, buying another care of childcare. The burdens that this eases by lessening the amount of time people need to be away from their homes, from their families can be the difference between someone getting this care and having a baby or dying in childbirth. The truth is, while this drug and the only protocol is very safe and productive for abortion care only a pregnancy it is an important option that should be available for patients. There is not an equivalent alternative that can be substituted. If you take nothing else from our time together this afternoon, i want you to know that abortion care is extremely safe. None of the arbitrary barriers make it any safer. In fact, the National Academy of Sciences Engineering medicine published a study affirming medication abortion. Taking it more broadly. The biggest threat to Patient Safety is a litany of medically unnecessary regulations that raise cost and delay procedures ultimately putting Peoples Health at risk. They confirm what we have long known. Abortion is safe and abortion bands and restrictions make it less so. Seventyfive other Major Medical societies identify abortion as essential Healthcare Service that requires timely access to care. These medical societies recommend the repeal of legislation and opposes barriers to access and interferes with the patient permission relationship including abortion bands and other restrictions. The reality is that in Abortion Provider i know firsthand that the people i care for are capable of making complex thoughtful decisions about their health. About their lives. They know best. Patients deserve to continue or in pregnancy for any reason. It should not be up to me or the government to decide which of these restrictions are valid. The unjust patchwork of abortion bands and restrictions, i am unwavering in my commitment to support people in my community. It does not have to be this way. People should be able to get the care in their own community in a manner that is best for them with people that they trust. I urge you to listen to the stories being told today by the people that provide and the people that make access to abortion in this country a reality. I hope these stories help you understand that abortion care is essential and see how profoundly these restrictions harm all of us and the people that we love. Thank you for having me here today. I look forward to being in conversation with you. Thank you. Now we will turn to senior staff attorney at the center for reproductive rights. Congresswoman bush. Congresswoman crockett. Ranking member. It is on. Bullet closer. Is that okay . Better . I am usually at a podium. Thank you for having me here today. I am a senior staff at the center for reproductive rights. It is my honor to represent some of the Abortion Providers in this country and patient seeking abortion in the united states. The threats to Abortion Access have only grown. Having achieved their decades long pursuit to eliminate the federal right to abortion. Antiabortion extremists are pushing to destroy acts in the state where it remains. Today i will discuss fallout of the decision and the novel legal perversion antiabortion extremists are using to and abortion nationwide including targeting the abortion pill. Now rocketing towards the u. S. One year ago the Supreme Court issued its decision in dobbs overruling roe v wade and unleashing an escalating unpredictable Public Health crisis that continues. The court did this by outright ignoring that without access to abortion, pregnant people lose their dignity and autonomy and cannot protect their health. To be clear, antiabortion politicians and states that a band abortion do not care about pregnant people. They do not care about parenting. They do not care about family. The very same states that a band abortion of the worst mortality in the nation. In short, there is nothing prolife about their efforts. One thing that makes this moment unique is how other states and other politicians are reacting. We have seen state supportive of access making historic progress in protecting our Reproductive Health care and improving the lives. The impact of the decision in dobbs has been devastating. Even while these communities have these efforts. As we have seen thousands of people carrying pregnancies to term including those with their help. A new lawsuit on behalf of texas denied abortion. This represents 13 and lifethreatening convocations and we know there are many more. The experience is a mimetic what is happening across the states. The partners with oklahoma and physicians for human rights and do a study of policies, not a single hospital in the state of obama articulate how they would work nationwide. Abortion bans with their jail sentences are never saved by their experience. These antiabortion legislators believe in eliminating abortion amount of the cost and unhinged because it is not there will. The vast majority of americans think abortion should be accessible. It is even more dire. The remaining Abortion Providers including these. Because their goal is to ban abortion in every state not to reinstate, and they filed a lawsuit seeking to eliminate abortion and they rely on this contrary to over 20 years that shows it is remarkably effective and 5 million americans have uses. They were successful before and now they were largely upheld by this. A case that should never have been pursued at all toward a Supreme Court that allowed them. It is over hard to overstate and providers did not know if or how on this care. They continue to live under this and access to abortion, i applaud the efforts on these are on the country and protects assess to abortion. Thank you for the opportunity and for your ongoing commitment. Thank you for those remarks. Thank you so much for having me and thank you to my fellow panelist, i know its not easy to share our stories. Good afternoon members of the committee, i use and they and she programs pronouns. First generation american, someone who is a survivor of some Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence and someone whose wife simply would not be possible if it werent for abortion care. I was raised in the bronx and i missed the only person in my family to obtain a law degree. We testified in coexecutive director of the sisters. A Grassroots Organization with genderbased violence community. We work with survivors of violence everyday to get them to safety, to heal and help them live empowered lives. Im here today, my parents moved to the u. S. In the 1970s from a small impoverished country you may not have heard of and they began their lives in the u. S. Working in factories having moved here with nothing but hope, hope they could one day make a better life for themselves and their families. Twenty years ago as a High School Student at an allgirls Catholic School so needless to say there is no sex education. We didnt learn about our bodies, concert substance or healthy relationships. As the very young age i found myself in an emotionally and sexually abusive relationship that resulted in a pregnancy and there was no way i was ready to be a parent at 15 years old. It wasnt easy and also alone, overwhelmed and terrified, most terrified to tell my parents to ask them for help so i didnt ask anyone for help. My constitutional right to an abortion, it no longer exists. It was so hard to gather 400 at the age, physically travel to Downtown Manhattan for my care and interact with adult medical professionals. Every medical appointment i have of it goes mental. When i got there, i was met even in new york city by antiabortion protesters. Even though i was in new york, it was hard but so incredibly worth it. If i was forced to give birth to 15, forced to be a mother with my abusive partner, i would be tied to him for the rest of my life. Abortion helped me escape an extremely toxic relationship and potentially lifetime of being under his control. Abortion meant i could stay in school and get my college degree. Years later in college, i had a second abortion and this time through medication. So much easier and lighter than it did in high school. I was older but more than that, i have the ability to control my pregnancies. They were literally in my own hands and someone who survived Sexual Assaults and my bodily autonomy was ripped away from it so important. I could do it in the comfort of my own home with privacy on my own terms. As someone whos used it, and approval infuriates me in this essential medication. Alleviate the barrier of travel and high costs associated. Medication abortion is actually safe and effective. It increases access for selfmanagement guidance simple and easy enough to be done with no outside medical support. Today people are being forced to give birth, people are increasingly criminalized for having abortion. Young people are having their dreams derailed and we know from the study women denied an abortion are four times as likely to fall into poverty years later. Risk factor for ending up in abuse relationship and Domestic Violence are impacted, abusers force the partners to get pregnant in preventing abortion care and even sabotaging his control. In relationship with the partners and it has ended. Because of my abortion, i was able to leave an abusive relationship and complete my education. My father was no longer with us so much pride sharing others that his daughter became a lawyer. He saw books as a way out of poverty and a common thing was they can take everything from you but they cant take your education. I now have a career that will allow me to help my family and Community Build generational wealth, opportunity that was never available to us. As i close, i want to be clear, attacks on abortion is not just attack on abortion, its controlling social mobility of freedom in the status quo. Racial violence, genderbased violence and warfare. I extend my gratitude to those of you working hard to restore Abortion Access, thank you for the opportunity to be your and share my story. Thank you for sharing and to all of our panelists, thank you for what you do and for sharing openly with all of us. We are going to turn to members of the committee for panelist questions. Im going to start and recognize myself or about five minutes, if we can keep it on five minutes or less, we can get to everyone. You have a timer no timer but we want to get to as many people as possible. Thank you for being here and persevering in a hostile environment and the work you do everyday. I get to see and speak with people you get to help and touch since dobbs. One thing we have in common, i didnt know anything about medication abortion, no one says that was was a thing, maybe i just didnt care about that. I wish i would have, my life would be a lot different right now had i known but i want to start by saying thank you for sharing what happened, you should not have to go digging in your, to be able to help people but thank you for opening up. Let me say to people who are at home watching this for on cspan, people who will read about this, those who have had abortion and need abortion, those contemplating what to do, desperate for some type of care right now, those who may be in this room, people on this panel that care. The care that you need, should you choose if you cannot get it from your doctors office, they are available online, get the care you need. We have heard from doctors and experts and it is effective and there is no shame and as we heard, someone who works every single day telling people, educating the community about resources and access who work for Abortion Access access this. Abortion action, we are working on it. You actually do the work everyday, you need it yourself. Were looking at people who dont have as much information, you can pick up their cell phone and call, who can call providers like you have Abortion Providers in your home and you need extra help yourself. What can we say, what can we do for those in communities like ours plus the others that have this, what can you say to them . Can you speak right now and tell them about accessing resources . I first want to say that im not alone. Abortion is not something we talk about in black household and community. I want you to know youre not alone, theres resources for you. You can go to i need and a. Com is what is abortion finder. Org. Plan c pills. Org, these are places to get resources with reports connected to those resources. I want you to also know taking medication abortion or orally can help with the chances you find yourself or your doctors find themselves being brought up criminal action supporting you but that support is there. I want my community to begin to unify and conversation around not just abortion but Reproductive Health in general. As black women, the beautiful woman at the end said a lot of our communities are educated. To educate your use about contraceptive, pubescent, what to do when they are hot and heavy and press them out into a world that is ripping away their bodily autonomy and the only way we are able to successfully help people survive unwanted pregnancy, maternal and birthing mortality rate, communication, reaching out to local organizations with support twice. It is important to do those things. Now my last question and thank you for everything you do and take care of people who need services. Decades of research in the approval process is safe and effective as we have said over and over again today and concerned about the farreaching, the medication. Can you tell us how undermining the fda will have dire consequences for the future of other medication including vaccines, medications and hormone replacement therapy. Im going to start with a little bit more about the resources so they are critical and important and available they open up to conversations and surveillance. For those who are watching and seeking care, it is critical that your careful what you are googling and doing, what your posting on chat and social media. All of those things have been used camillus people for taking care of themselves so there is an Organization Called reproductive justice, a legal helpline, you can call if you are concerned about being criminalized. They ask you questions. You have to be careful, it isnt the risk of medical. We said it once, 1000 times. These medications are safe whether i give it to you from my hand or order it online. The risk is not medical, it is legal so you have to be mindful in the prosecution of people self managing their own care discriminatory, discretionary and it is consensual. Who are they most likely to look like . Most likely to look like me so we see prosecutions universally living on no income, almost always very young people. His not just individual, it is supporters so folks hoping people access the medications, its important they navigate it, be mindful of the world we live in and the criminal legal system. I will switch to my doctor hat now. In in terms of what it means to undermine fda process, there is a process for medication approval for a reason and we dont get to pick and choose what we decide we want approved and that is what is happening with this medication. If you think this will end with abortion, you are delusional. This is never about abortion. Not in 1973 and not in 2003. Its about power and control and there will be implications much broader than abortion but even if it was just about abortion, that would be thought enough. It absolutely impacts our ability to care about people expanding pregnancy loss. It impacts our ability to take care of people with autumn immune disorders, it impacts your ability to get Cancer Treatment in the time you need it because you have outside forces making decisions what you can or cannot do. Every time im asked to come to speak with legislators, there are questions about science and im happy to share but you didnt go to medical school, im not asking, i need you to know the ins and outs of what it means to provide care, what i want you to do is stop legislating medicine. I trained for 20 years to do this work, i take good care of people and committees so our hope is to talk about medicine the science but politics has no place in care and that is the intention. Politics has no place in care. I am going to yield to the Ranking Member. Thank you, corey. Abraham lincoln said a house divided cannot stand and the nation would not long survive have slave and half free so now we have a nation divided among access to healthcare, a nation have free and half unfree. Have medical and half misogynist. I think your perspective on what you think is going to happen longterm, what is your gut check . Can we survive like this is a country . We know colleagues who originally started by talking about the states to decide, they have signed on to the bureau to create a nationwide federal ban on abortion and on our side, we support national law to restore reproductive freedom and go back to roe v. Wade. What you think is going to happen . We are at total crisis within three to five years. Right now, the day the cops decision came down from clinics, individuals they couldnt sell because of information between community and doctors so looking at not just black and frak communities, we look at every birthing person capable of conceiving a child at the current age into some type of crisis because we have different ways, people have conceived a child and one of the more popular ways thats most egregious, a lot of us cant afford birth control. Working paycheck to paycheck. I like your answer because at least of those of us on the prochoice side will not surrender each territory in america to authoritarians who want to control that. We are standing with the women of missouri and kentucky and South Carolina and all over the country, we insist we act like one nation for everybody. You said something powerful how its not just about healthcare but also protecting social mobility of women allowing them to make their own choices and it minded me of a study that said the simple biggest poverty in the nation is whether women have control over their own fertility and whether women can control their own family life so i wonder if you would explain to somebody how you would talk to someone whos on the other side, how your experience illuminates out its about giving women agency over their lives in a way that allows them to strengthen their families. Thank you for that question, that should be asked more often and appreciate this being about power and control, its not even about abortion or even women or just, its about who has power and who doesnt. Maintaining the status quo. One thing i love to highlight when i talk about who has abortion is most people who have abortions are actually mothering already, they arty have children at home and we live in a country we dont provide a safety net for mothers, we dont give moms what they need for child care, we dont give enough time off for moms or fathers and what this means is we force people to have children when they may not have enough to take care of the children they already have at home. They are stretched, trying to put food on the table and i work with these women, i work with low income immigrants. They are nannies, home cleaners and we provide cash assistance best we can but the idea of forcing women to have children when they are already living in poverty, it is obscene and i feel we need to have more conversation about the economic angle. Forgive me, ill have to save my question for later. You live and work in washington d. C. Our committee which would not have a briefing or hearing like this which is why we are doing it democrats, its not a matter of concern, nonetheless had a series of hearings about washington d. C. Republicans in the house want to micromanage how the 700,000 people and representatives govern their schools, their elections, Voting Rights, budgetary issues, you name it. Control all of that we know they gladly extinguish the right of women to choose in washington d. C. As well. Im wondering if you would say a word and how that relates to the situation of washington, the ability of the political leaders to defend reproductive freedom and choice. Thank you for that and i would be remiss if i began my response without acknowledging the amazing work congresswoman has done for the entirety here in d. C. And fighting, it is critical. You quoted Abraham Lincoln, if you are silent about pain, they will kill you and say you enjoyed it. Refusing to be silent about the implications and lack of statehood for d. C. Residents. We have Healthcare Systems and inability to make decisions about the way we spend our own money is something on herself. We are talking about secondclass citizens so folks of the district and territories in the united states, these are the same. Imagine what it would mean if we go to missouri and say you no longer get a vote. We get to decide how you spend your money in your budget but for some reason it is acceptable in the district of columbia. Its critical to understand its bigger than the issue of abortion, bigger than school traced, it beats integrity and understanding of the folks who reside and live in the city and it is critical we are not just organizing each other but you all join in as well and understand including the assault we experience is also an assault on this democracy. Thank you very much and i yield to whoever is next. I would like to focus my questions on the unique situation of the district of columbia which i represent with respect to abortion. Because d. C. Is not a state at least not yet, congress can and has meddle in d. C. Affairs when it comes to abortion, Congress Imposed in the d. C. Appropriation bills for years on their local funds on Abortion Services for low income and house fiscal year 2024 appropriations bill would maintain this so can you tell me how this impacts residents seeking Abortion Services . Thank you for that question. There was a brief period of time, i dont know if you all remember 2009 when medicaid coverage was able to be used for abortion for d. C. Residents, that was about four months and its part of an agreement to avoid federal government shuts down, it was traded away. I was taking care of people that they and the next day. We spent the entirety of the night doing when medicaid funding for abortion was calling each patient and letting them know you cannot have your abortion tomorrow unless you come up with this money because no longer will your insurance cover it. What we are seeing in d. C. , it is not able to be used to pay for abortion, it is a twotier system. Where you live in your to zip code and more important, who covers your insurance, it is medicaid. We have a huge federal Government Community here. Folks are working for the Armed Services and people who received entrance to the government, they are impacted by this. If you live in the district of columbia, you dont get a vote or a voice and say i disagree with the so it is critical, devastating effects and real life affects on the people seeking care, this is not a theoretical argument, this hurts and harms our community. In another is fiscal year 2024 appropriation bill would prohibit d. C. From spending on local funds to carry out the nondiscrimination. This law prohibits employers from discriminating against employees and their families based on their Reproductive Health decision so how do you think d. C. Residents will be impacted if this were blocked . We see impacts across the board certainly for d. C. Residents and people providing abortion care. One thing most disappointing about this legislation is the fact that it is significantly onesided so we have these clauses that protect folks and allows them to opt out of providing essential critical lifesaving abortion care and there is no parallel in terms of production. If my employer decides they dont want me speaking about abortion, advocating for abortion, doing abortion, entertaining conversation around abortion than i could be fired from the job if we are not standing with the folks protecting care so thats what it means, it means we will live in community where you do not have Abortion Providers, you dont have folks doing advocacy and forces people to travel hundreds of miles away that youre seeing so many states in this country to get care because the desire is to make providers and patients fearful. So fearful they do not care. The reality abortion is not going anywhere, its been around before, it was here before it was legal and Abortion Providers support people and workers doing critical abortion work before the a and a came in and usurped the leadership, abortion care has existed in perpetuity as long as people have been pregnant and it will continue. The question is, who would be harmed in the process working toward reproductive freedom . From your legal experience or legal perspective i should ask, why is this law important . Which particular law . The d. C. Law. Its living in fear. We have experienced the year end decades of stigmatizing and sidelining Abortion Services and providers, people who speak about abortion. As a result, we have a community of people afraid to talk about this care provider and result in the communities will suffer. When we talk about killing, this is what we are talking about. When you start with the community of care and will see across united with this care so when we do anything to make it harder, less safe to provide and care for people, the harm will be dramatic so there is a direct line between making people afraid and physical, emotional consequences. D. C. Needs to become the state. After congressional publicans trying to ban abortion in d. C. , they have tried that recently. I yield back. Once again im going to jump around in my notes. What i was writing down was what modernday criminals look like. One side of the aisle a modernday criminal looks like doctor, woman and drag queens. It doesnt look like donald trump and his various associates who have actually gone to prison. It doesnt look like those Holding National secrets, thats not what it looks like. Multiple indictments but instead what one party is so upset about is women in their Healthcare Providers and friends and family trying to make sure theyve been around for a long time. The people exercising what it is to be prolife. That is the people being criminalized under one party idea for what a criminal looks like. As a recovering criminal district attorney, i am curious to know, your story touched me in ways even as a texan where unfortunately, weve got all the bad stories, we really do. It amazes me we can reach a new height for me but your story did that for me and i dont know if recall but as you are opening up, one of the first things you talk about was wearing a whether or not she would go to jail so as i was serving when they did push forward with the criminalization, the trigger law so long as roe was overturned, it would come into place which means it did come into play so now people are facing life. We have had Law Enforcement finally arrested and did get indicted and convicted. Many were facing 1090 nines or life. There was a wellknown case and a gentlemans home, she killed him. She wasnt facing that so what i would like to ask of you is, how does one move forward living in a state that says got to sit there and make a decision between, do i go to the hospital so i can hopefully have lifesaving care or go to the hospital means i am facing prison time . How does one go through that analysis . I will say as a person going through that right now, my Community Members to understand these laws and what that means for them. I had a person come to me recently who was so unsure about abortion laws she decided to keep the child she knew she wasnt ready for. She blocked out, she decided she doesnt want to think about the justice it would take. Connecting with real counselors, she still was unsure because of whats happening on the news and hearing about in florida, people going to prison for miscarrying. Very scary. What is he is a community of individuals attempting to navigate and not communicate will. They put themselves in danger of losing their lives because they want to manage and abortion and uneducated to do so. We have had a couple of d. C. Hearings and they want to talk about d. C. Crime a lot. I will agree all of us regardless of where you live, we are having these hearings and the hearings have been focused on random numbers, as much as what goes on in the criminal Justice System as it is but one thing is real crime. They are concerned about guns being on the street and for whatever reason we cant have real conversations and from your perspective as a Healthcare Provider because one thing we dont talk about enough is let me say thank you for the work that you do, let me back up a little bit. So many Healthcare Providers are steve got a matter of a handful of states allowing for you all to do what you were trained to do causing another effect because even if i come to you in a got time to get the services i need because of the backlog, because of how many people are coming to you, it is adding another layer but talk about how he feels because med school, nobody was talking about that, there may come a time when you have to go to jail or you may be facing jail but thats were talking about being a Healthcare Provider under these circumstances right now facing potential criminal consequences and how it affects what you do or dont do or going forward. I grew up in d. C. In the middle of the war on drugs. The reality is war on drugs is a failed experience design for. We think in one reason the conversation about violence and criminality in the district is so deeply frustrating to me, this idea we can gain more deeply the way to get out, it hasnt eliminated whats happening in community and how do you determine what solution should look like. It is now region despicable. What does it mean for the Healthcare Provider . We all make decisions in each moment of the day. I did not believe i would ever make these decisions to determine whether or not i care for an individual. The only thing i have wanted to be in my black life as a doctor. Thats it. I came here knowing that was the work i was supposed to do. To have to make a decision to take care of my community, a community that helped me earn my degree, or community i am accountable to the cares for me and i care for and make decisions about whether or not i prioritize myself, my safety in lieu of the health and wellbeing of these people around me, it is heartwrenching, disappointing and criminal. That is the true crime. I now yield to representative thomas. [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] its not just about making sure people are safe but also it turns out as you know, youre not alone. 71 . [inaudible] we know when people have access to abortion, they are more likely to participate in the labor force so i like you and anyone else to speak the denial of this fundamental right not just in the front of dignity but actually entrenching inequality. It is hurting women from getting the education and jobs is equal in society. A right to an abortion, its a matter of production. So much for the question. In addition to what you just shared, we know people are less likely to have Credit Scores good enough to purchase homes and home owning is something that can improve the success rate of passing on generational wealth so it is about who has power not just about abortion care. The other thing think a lot about because of where i work connection to Domestic Violence and violence is something that holds people back from what we think of as the American Dream and recently Domestic Violence National Hotline came with the state that the reports of the hotline have gone up 90 return of rope. 99 , that is not a coincidence. Think about people calling. We talk about abortion, its not just Reproductive Health, such as health, its so many other things, who has power in society and we need to continue to put that old and the other thing i want to say that was mentioned a little earlier is although this is happening in states where there are restrictions, theres a huge impact on state like new york, we are seeing longer wait times it is a huge issue and you can still get abortion here, find someone who can do it for you and abortion funds in new york which is severely underfunded, 20 from outside of new york before rope and now 47 . The clinic saw three 100 increase from texas alone. This is a crisis of what happens with this case. Thank you. Now we will yield to representative we. Thank you so much, sorry i was late and didnt get to hear your testimony but i think our colleagues who put this together in our panel on this topic. Obviously this is a conversation is not getting easier. I think often in this space how often the conversation, how much it impacts this, particularly women and people look like me and come from communities, black mortality rates in the country in america leads in that particular is the youth so i come to this from a personal stance, theyve lost their baby to this crisis and continue attacks, the ways in which those who are prochoice dont understand humanity but this dog decision has done the country into chaos, its a much longer road. We know that is not enough. Taking steps to protect to abortion. Pennsylvania and states contracting with the fifth circuit has ruled back by access. What do these rulings mean for states part of that lawsuit . Has never been for this but we are rightful to pennsylvania and other states in a washington case and bring litigation and they were able to get relief that provides comfort in those states so those states have in order irrespective of the decisions made that provide that security and it is essential because providers in the state are providing Abortion Services and it is a privilege to represent that same week because it has provided comfort for people in the states that protected and their residence in one of most preposterous acts the alliance case. In a state where abortion is banned, there is order attempting to come after medication. We are grateful about that case led by washington and we hope to achieve relief for providers not in states to support. What are the implications for proactive measures to protect access to healthcare . We dont know. Legal ramifications are unprecedented and we are in a crisis. What is incredible about this moment, as horrifying of the antichoice in support access is taken unprecedented ways. For example, filing a case to protect access to abortion is no small thing. It is no small thing. Seventeen states and the district of columbia, medication is essential. Our residents needed and we will do everything we can to cut back so we encourage states to continue in this moment to take rate of steps to do things that were never done before because peoples lives on the line. Using every tool we have in the shed. Is there a district impact on people of color on abortion . Absolutely. Here we are 400 years in america and successful breaking up of male counterparts. I look at this as an attempt of major and bodily restrictions. Therefore making it harder for these decisions place that we should be free in every direction would like to go in. Another, i, what people will do is strive. Anything we can for quality of life while trauma is running in the background. Thats what we continue to do as we can find. We will power these instances and we will unify through abortion. Access to abortion care is not limitless and only available to privileged amounts. Health clinics provide abortion and secondclass citizens receiving abortion care, those clean extremist policies access to the abortion care system, what impact have you seen have neighboring states that restricted fans on the access . Weve seen significant impacts and we heard that discussed earlier, the backlog is caused. You have to understand how this transitions in the country, to understand how we got here. The freestanding Abortion Clinic came through the development to create a feminist model of healthcare organize medical systems. Previously the your abortion in the hospital and abortion boards and a different mission. Doctor typically mail almost always white advocating for you for good enough reason to get your abortion these brave folks with that out of the system and made it freestanding it was fantastic in a lot of ways. The downside is they stigmatize this kind of care and limited the number of people who can provide this service so when we look at whats happening in states like pennsylvania compared to states that are neighboring or nearby, we can see these independent Abortion Clinics always provide Healthcare Services to gender affirming care, provide primary care, contraceptive care, counseling, overloaded as it is, under resourced, we do not see the same attention to funding for communitybased organizations we see. Theyve not received this influx of funding despite the fact that communitybased organizations and clinics performed in so many places so what happens when you have folks traveling from neighboring states and across the country to get this care, it is impossible to meet the needs of every person. Nearly impossible to care for people in our own community because we are under resourced, underfunded, protesters in somebody legend protesters outside, imagine what that means so the solution is not creating the socalled sanctuary cities. I am not used to the format we get more than five minutes. I thank you all for staying here with us appear to think if your testimony brittle and basing the republicans have never cared about the lives of babies or children. If they did they would not be cutting access to healthcare, do childcare for they would not be ignoring our black Maternal Mortality crisis where they would not be blocking paid to sicken family leave and so many of the other things that they have been doing and they consistently do pretty they will continue to do as long as we allow them to control our legislative bodies. Not us at the federal level but state and local level to thank you so much neil. Now it will turn it over to our final member to speak at this roundtable. Represented goldman. Thank you, thank you all for being here. Congress member bush and crockett as well as our ranking, really pleased that you have called us here today and provided an opportunity for these amazing people to give their perspective on what is a critical issue. The one thing i want to start out by saying is, this is not just a womans issue for this is an american issue. And i will tell you as a man who has five children, four girls i care incredibly about the future of our children boys and girls club. Watched five pregnancies and deliveries. This is not isolated to womens rights. This is individual rights. Individual freedoms and i am very proud to be here and stand with all of you as we continue this fight. I want to highlight because the lawyer in me gets a little amped up about medication abortion and a lot of the case law cases going around the country and the regulatory scheme. Congresswoman chu and i a letter to five largest retail pharmacies to ask them why they have not begun the process of getting certified to distribute pursuant to the fdas new regulations that came out in january. Medication abortion, as you all know i have not been here the whole time but im sure it has been said constitutes more than 50 of all abortions. Its an incredibly safe way to use Reproductive Healthcare it is safer than tylenol. And yet we obviously have a tax on for political regions around the country. But i am especially frustrated at the response by several of the pharmacies. Luke wrote to walmart, safeway, kroger, and health mart. Mark. All but costco responded. Basically all of them punted. And said its a very complicated legal framework. Its a complicated situation right now. It is not complicated and states where abortion is permitted. There is nothing complicated about the basic and obvious right and access for people to get medication abortion. And yet they still have not begun the certification process in any of those states where it is legal. Im sorry. I know you are one of the lawyers up here who is fighting this. The thing to me that jumps out about it and why i think this avenue is so important is not just because we need to increase access to medication abortion. But because of the preemption clause. Federal law preempts state law. It allows her medication abortion and federal law allows for telehealth across state lines that is an avenue for women and states have banned abortion to get access to it. Depending upon the draconian measures that are taken in the states. I am curious what your take is on that argument . I feel like i may be a bit of a broken record on this. This is all legally unprecedented. We frankly do not know and i cannot speak to exactly how that theory might work. What i can say is this is a perfect example of how when some states have banned abortion and seek to eliminate this it has a cascade of consequences. And i think the reluctance and fear even amongst some of the national welt Resource Entities that you are talking about, they are afraid. They are afraid for a reason. They are afraid the attorneys and generals of states who have begun abortion are threatening every Single Person they can think of with prosecution. Even where it is clear these pharmacies could become certified and dramatically increase access. One of the thing experience is abortion is only a reality when you can get it. When you have the funding to get it. When you have the support to get it. And when pharmacies make decisions due to political realities they are denying people access. Those people are disproportionately black people of color. And so i encourage those companies and every other National Organization to support Peoples Health and their wellbeing to respond a different way. The fda made those decisions because their copious Scientific Evidence supporting the use of telehealth to provide medication abortion. When we make people afraid in this way it does not matter necessarily because it will not be a reality. The fda made the correct judgment is safe, effective it is a huge problem. Even threats coming from states have banned abortions or intimidating corporations like that. That is a sign of a legal crisis that we are in. There is absolutely no reason those Companies Providing medication abortion. When you talk about the impacts on states that permit abortion, this is where we are seeing it. These companies have pharmacies in those states and they will not distribute and states that allow it because they have not gotten their national certification. And doctor you have spoken to this so passionately and sensibly and cogently which is there is a reason the fda is charged with overseeing our scientific prescription drugs and medicine. Theres a reason why politicians are not. And there is a reason frankly why judges are not. Im so i applaud your efforts to bring to light how important it is for the scientists in the room to make these decisions. Not the politicians or judges with personal views that are infecting their opinions. The last thing i will say and i know we have been here a while and i appreciate your time. I agree there is a lot of pressure especially illegal pressure on a lot of these companies. But i think it is high time we start putting political pressure on them too. That is what we were trying to do with this letter and that is what will continue to do. They need to hear from the American People it is long past time they get certified and provide access to this incredibly safe medication that allows women to make their own individual choices about their own Reproductive Healthcare. I am very grateful we had this opportunity and thank you all for coming. I look forward to continuing the work that we all have to do to make sure abortion is accessible to everyone. Thank you. That was the end of our panelists questions for this roundtable. We think every single one of you all for answering and being so open. Thank you for that. We are going to go ahead and close. We are going to start brief closing remarks. I am going to keep it brief. Congressman goldman, really just threw me in alley you put which we tend to do on this committee for one another. Because i think what he was getting at is the intersection analogy that exists. And by that what i mean is a lot of people what to act as if this is a fight about prochoice pro life if you are prochoice you are not prolife and all this other nonsense. You all have laid out the disproportionate impact. If you have laid it out and said its not just a matter of access its a matter of financial burden you laid out all of the things that we have talked about the numbers. Especially when we Start Talking about women of color. But one of the things dan was saying it is basically he does not have a uterus but he stands with those of us to do. But the point to be made as this is not a fight at should just be women. This is all of our fight. In the way i want people to understand this is you do not have to have an opinion if you feel like abortion is something that someone should or shouldnt do. Because to be perfectly honest its nobodys business, we can start there. But, in addition to that this is the only healthcare decision we do say is a public decision. Otherwise were used like hippo, view all heard of that . Wartime hippo, hippo, hippo, cannot tell my business. But the government is all up in this healthcare decision. I if you dont understand you sit on the sidelines and believe this is not my fight just to know if they are coming for something that you care about next this is all of our fights but we look at the Supreme Court the Supreme Court did not stop every pro rate that is the beginning the Supreme Court then went after this website situation just to do something to the lgb tq ia community makes them feel as if they are lesser than. They then decided affirmative action, why not . We are doing good right now lets go after more people. So, to be clear its not whether or not you agree its whether or not you believe in democracy. You are pro america, pro freedom then you should be in this fight. It does not matter if you have a uterus. It does not matter if you feel like that is a decision someone should make. What you have to understand is this a fight is just getting started. And unfortunately it is already getting ugly. The only people it seems to be protecting right now or old white men. If you are not an old white man they are coming for you. That is michael wrapping up beau at this conversation is that it is all of our fights. It is not about whether or not you agree with abortion itself. Because half of the people fighting against this do not have an understanding of how a womans body works in the first place. I know we didnt get on it you didnt talk about how many times a woman actually aborts a fetus naturally. It is literally survival of the fittest. It is a lot to actually be pregnant. And unfortunately got a lot of women right now specifically in texas that have fought to be pregnant and literally because pregnancies are not just a walk in the park, they are definitely difficult on a womans body, we have women who wanted their children but because of dumb lawmakers thinking they know better about what a woman should and should not be able to do they will not be able to bear a child. That is a problem. That is not what freedom looks like that is out this country is supposed to look like. So i thank you for being on the front lines and we have got amazing girl power here, i applaud danna for bringing it up. It is everybodys fight. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. And again to our panelists, thank you for sharing. Thank you for bringing forward the resources. I will just say it lastly we wont allow. We havent and we wont allow some right wing agenda to get in the way of healthcare. This is healthcare for people. Im thinking of these five bills again but we say it when i have an asthma attack and i have to go to the hospital, i have a sinus infection to give him a pill packet is bigger than this. Its more pills than this for my asthma attack. Five bills, five bills for a human being. Five pills for a human being to take care of their own body, eight necessity that should only belong to them. Between them and if they have a provider that provided this is the decision of the person who needs it. So every birthing person every pregnant person that needs it, get the care you need if you need the resources listen to this over again and we have people who are available. We have doctors appear. A specialist that can help you. We have a lawyers up here. These organizations and these folks are ready and willing to help you regardless of where you live. We want you to know the resources are there. No matter where you live, no matter what attacks have come, no matter what they said you can and cannot do. No matter what they said you can and cannot do. No matter if they threaten jail, any at that get the information to have the right information. Because there is miss and disinformation out there. We just sent this organizations are the lawyer organizations . If when how lawyering for reproductive justice they are legal help line. Yes go there to get the information that you need and where weakening her pills . Plan c pills. Org to navigate your resources. Take care of yourself healthcare and human rights abortion care is healthcare. Now i yield to the Ranking Member of the oversight and accountability committee. Our favorite hero and other than jamie raskin projects think you represent bush. Thank you to our great Witnesses Today a representative bush thank you for place the emphasis on healthcare and representative crockett thank you for putting the issue where it belongs on the question of human freedom. And anytime this country has been on the wrong side of freedom we have had a struggle we have come out on the right side of freedom and that is what the civil war was about and the reconstruction that is what prohibition was about. I am not a big drinker but i would not throw other people into jail for having a drink just because i dont drink, right . Its freedom of people to make their own choices for their own lives. And i do think echoing Abraham Lincoln that we are not going to survive as a nation past free choice and half compelled birth that is not going to work long term for us. But in the meantime we are in a very serious struggle is all of our witness has said and cory bush is said to protect people and help them get through this. Part of it is we have to act as a federal legislature to do what we can to protect peoples choice. Part of that is going to be vindicating the constitutional right to travel. A lot of these red states are saying not just that you cant have an abortion and it is a criminal act in the state but you cannot leave the state for the purposes of accessing an abortion. You cannot cross state lines for the purposes of healthcare. They are passing but i would call fugitive womens laws. Women who cross state lines are supposed to be sent back or picked up so they can be restored to the rule of their oppressors back in the home state. That is our responsibility as a congress to act as quickly as we can to vindicate everybodys rates under the equal protection clause to travel across state lines to obtain healthcare thats lawful. We have to be serious about that we always have elections coming up in america theoretically elect antichoice majorities that would pass the federal ban on anybody have an abortion anywhere in america and criminalize the women, the doctors, the nurses, anyone who participates. Or america could elect a robust prochoice majorities that would restore the right of women to make their own healthcare choices. I hope it is in 2024 but it is coming. We will get there to make the choice. In the meantime im starting to think around here its like before the civil war when the proslavery forces past a bunch of rules you cannot talk about slavery you literally could not mention slavery in congress that was a violation of the rules they havent passed a rule against mentioning it but there are no hearings about it. None of our bills get a hearing. None of our bills get to the floor but none of the mm its about abortion are heard because they talk about all the time before the Dobbs Decision abortion was murder, abortion was a genocide it was a holocaust now you cannot mention it because they understand the vast majority of americans oppose the authoritarian agenda against women. They do not want anyone to talk about it for they do not want any legislative action on it they do not want any boats on it. Until they can violate an of Voting Rights in the country to bring back gerrymandering majorities they would actually past their national law creating a nationwide federal band. What we have to do . We have got to talk about it. So in to commend ms. Bush and ms. Crockett for taking the initiative in organizing us today to have this excellent hearing so the voices are heard from around america of what is actually taking place in states that have gone down this dark authoritarian road of controlling lives and women to not do anything to help the lives of women not doing anything to help womens families but to restrict their freedom. That is a road those states will come to regret we are going to continue to fight until we restore freedom for everyone in america thank you ms. Bush i yield back to you. X thank you. Our roundtable on medication abortion number one is done. [laughter] [background noises] [background noises] [background noises] West Virginia center joe manchier utah republican governor John Huntsman are attending a New Hampshire town ha with n labels for eyeing potential third party unity ticket in 2024 watch on cspan now on cspan. Org. Park since 1979 partnership of the cable industry cspan has provided complete coverage of the halls of congress. From the house and Senate Floors to congressional hearings, party briefings and committee meetings. Cspan gives you a front row seat of how issues are debated and decided with no commentary, no interruptions and completely unfiltered. Cspan, your unfiltered view of government. Healthy democracy does not just look like this. It looks like this. It seemed democracy at work citizens are truly informed, get in the form, straight from the source on cspan. Unfiltered, unbiased word for word. 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