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When Barbara Lee’s mother went into labor, no one at the hospital would let her in. It was 1946 in segregated El Paso, Texas, and she was Black. When she was finally allowed through the door, she was left in a gurney in the hospital hallway, unconscious and unassisted, until it was too late to perform the C-section she needed. Moments later, the doctor seeming unsure of what to do decided to use forceps, a risky process of delivery that could pose birth injuries, to pull the baby out.
“My mother almost died in childbirth having me, and I almost didn’t get into this world, because I barely made it,” said Lee, a Democratic Congress member from California. “That’s an example of systemic racism in the health care system that we’re still dealing with today.”
James Clyburn introduced legislation that would grant extra time to federal officials to do background checks, he said that it would be a "good first step."
In a guest column, Republican Rep. Greg Steube and advocate Skylar Zander write that the Protect the Right to Organize Act takes away the rights of freelancers and independent workers, and that it has a better chance of passage with Democratic leadership on the national level.
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