Hearing testimony on Abortion Access issues after the Supreme Courts recent decision to overturn roe v. Wade. Live coverage here on cspan. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you for staying around and working with us on our road schedule today. Our declaration of independence was unique in that it introduced into the world a profound set of ideals to be protected in 6 to 20 generations. And, that was that there were certain inalienable rights that were given to mankind. And they were not a grant from government but a gift from god, the declaration of independence went on to state that among these were life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And, it is notable that those ideals upon which the rest of the rule of law on which we live is all based on that first essential right. That is the right to life. With the Dobbs Decision, in a single day, millions gained that right. The right that have been taken away previously. If we look at the development of science over the last 50 years, i was born and 75 and just a couple of years after row. Ultrasounds were very rare, i asked my mom for my ultrasound and there was not one to be found. There is not one, when roe was being argued the dialogue at the time was that it was a blob of tissue that was in development, we know so much more now than we did before. We know that a child at six weeks, we can even detect a heart rate, we know that science is isnt showing us that a child can feel the pain of an abortion. So, there is a lot of misinformation that has happened since the dobbs information that i thought we would need to address. Its a matter of fact, the chair said that the Dobbs Decision was, and i quote, undemocratic. Could you speak to the jobs reporting, and if it was undemocratic or not. Certainly, it is not anti democratic it is an act of judicial modesty. It shows the top structure and history are actually silent on the right to the abortion. As Justice Alito explains that means it way the people get to debate this issue inside this issue. The Supreme Court out of the business of a legislating abortion. If anything, it restore the democratic process to the discussion of abortion. Absolutely, Justice Alitos opinion leaves it to the people. That is my understanding as well. It was also said that this was prolife, people who embrace this are extremists, draconian, is how the decision was weve heard about, its threats to democracy and all of those sorts of things. When we talk about extremism and draconian, can you compare where the United States stands in relation to other countries when it comes to abortion . Absolutely, under roe v. Wade United States was one of the most extreme and progressive nations on abortion in the entire world. We are one of only seven countries in the world, including countries like china and north or north korea, you have horrible human rights records, to allow abortion up until the moment of perth. For any reason at all. So that is very rare, we are not on the right side of that. Are there any state laws that would prosecute women for an abortion . There are, not there are no state abortion laws that would prosecute women for abortions. Any federal . No. We have heard a lot about that. Can you speak to ectopic pregnancies and abortions, we keep hearing that is an issue as well. Thank you so much about that, i think ectopic pregnancies are an issue. Misinformation, there have been social media posts suggesting that women will not get treated for an Ectopic Pregnancy because doctors might be afraid of performing the procedure. That is absolutely false, and Ectopic Pregnancy treatment is not an abortion, and abortion is the intentional taking of a human life. And Ectopic Pregnancy is a tragic situation in which the baby is developing outside of the womb, and, treatment for that, as planned parenthood has recognized, is simply not an abortion. You speak to what is the norms in the world, both you and i believe that life begins at conception, this is a question of life, ultimately. That is what makes it so difficult. And why the views are so divided, especially when it comes to this. When it comes to what is normal, the democrats have proposed two bills that will be voting on friday. Hr 80 to 96 and h are 80 to 97. These bills would, among other things, allow for abortion because of disability, whats sexy childs, but raise the child as, potentially. There are provisions and parents being involved in their childs life, there is ambiguous language that could potentially forced prolife doctors, many of whom their fate would dictate to them that this is not a proper thing to perform. What is troubling for me is we have gone from the left to wanting it to be rare, now we want taxpayers to fund it. Not only in our country, to pay for other peoples abortions, but, also for abortions overseas. The gentlemans time has expired. Thank you for your statement, thank you for being here. The gentleman from california, miss porter, is recognized for five minutes. Madam chair, i say unanimous account consent to recognize in the record of finding from the turn away study from women who sought abortions. Without objection. Before jobs, even under roe, americans who wanted an abortion were denied. They turn away study examined the lives of hundreds of people who were denied abortion, and compared their experiences to people who got abortions. Miss are you familiar with these runaway study . Yes, i am. I want to use my white board to help americans understand what this study found. Lets start with health. Which women were more likely to suffer from physical health problems, women who had an abortion or women who were denied an abortion . Women who are denied an abortion. Women who are denied an abortion. And, which women were denying abortion does not correlate with worst physical, it also is to financial problems. Which group of women, those who received an abortion or were denied an abortion were more likely to be unemployed . For sure those who are denied an abortion. Denied an abortion, which group of women was more likely to live in poverty . Definitely those who are denied abortion. And, which group of women more more likely to have low credit scores, to have no applications for housing or car loans . Those who are denied an abortion. So, to summarize, women, when they decision to have an abortion was not, was taken out of the hands of anybody not able to have an abortion to make their own decision, they had worse health outcomes, were more likely to be unemployed, were more likely to face financial problems like poverty and having low credit scores. Women who are denied abortions are four times more likely to live below the poverty line, they are less likely to be able to afford food and housing for themselves and children, miss goss graves can you explain why people denied abortion were more likely to have these worth outcomes than people who have an abortion . If you are denied abortion you are not having a child based on when you actually want to. What we know is that there is a wide range of reasons people determined that it is not the right time to have a child. It could be that their health is not the reason that they want to have a child at that time, but, it could also be that they are not financially sub here. Theyre in a relationship where it does not make sense, there are a range of reasons, that is why it is so important that that decision be the decision of the people who were absolutely pregnant. The person who is actually going to have that child but whether or not they do that. Mess goss graves i completely agree. We should let people who are pregnant make the decision on to whether or not they want to carry that child, to deliver that child, and to raise that child. I am a mom, i love my three children, i know firsthand the joys and hardships of carrying, birthing, raising and providing for children. Including doing it alone as millions of women do. That is why i believe so strongly that extremist politicians should not have the power to force anyone to become a parent. The choice to give birth is not just a major health decision, it is an economic decision for an entire family, including other children that that person, that mother or parent may have. Many women experience a significant decrease and find that there and plum declines after each additional child. Many parents are forced to leave the workforce altogether to care for their kids. When extremist politicians prevent americans from making their own decisions, they force patients to give birth to children, but they may not be able to care for, may not be able to protect and race safely. They may be forced to grow up in poverty. We live, we could live in a free society. Americans should have the freedom, the liberty, to grow their families when they are ready to do so. Not birth babies because of government mandates. I am here at home, sick with covid, and caring for my two children alone, i do not need an american women do not need any politicians telling them when, and if they should make the decisions to raise children. I thank you miss goss graves for your testimony, and everybody on this panel, and i yield back. The gentlelady yields back and the gentleman from arizona is now recognized for five minutes. I think the chairwoman, i appreciate the opportunity to be here today in this incredibly, politicallycharged hearing. I know we get to have another one tomorrow, in fact, the democrats are going five for five hearings in five days, effectively, on this topic. Democrats really are the abortion extremists, relying on a strategy of fear, that is what it is. I associate myself with a video that was put in and i will say one thing, when mr. Jordan was asking questions he forgot to ask questions about bounties put out by shutdown d. C. On Supreme Court justices, that is absolutely outrageous and i have not heard any of my colleagues across the aisle, not one, say, maybe we should not do that. It is an incredible, incredible strategy of fear that they are perpetuating, Governor Northam there stream us. Governor northam said that third trimester abortions are down where there may be extreme deformities, a fetus that is not viable. In this example, if another is in labor i can tell you exactly what happened. The infant will be delivered, the infant will be kept comfortable, the intent will be resuscitated if that is what the mother and the family desired and then it will be discussion between the physicians and the mother about the outcome for that baby. I talked to senator rubio who never thought he would see the day in america where america had government officials where they sport legal infanticide. Elizabeth warren, what did she say . She said in massachusetts right now Crisis Pregnancy Centers are full in people who are looking for pregnancy termination, they help out number clinics 3 to 1, we need to shut them down all around the country. Wow that is from the liberal left, i will ask a question of miss hawley. Miss hawley did the job decisions that down abortion completely nationwide . Theyd observation return to the states the authority, finally, to be able to protect life in 1973 a majority of man on the Supreme Court declared that no matter how compelling a states interest was in protecting life, no matter what we learned about a babys development, states could not protect that life until 22 weeks. With the Dobbs Decision, a decision of judicial modesty, the people and their elected representatives get to make that choice. I am looking now at a recent article in the New York Times, when it comes to abortion rights democrats need to lead into the politics of fear. The party needs to scare voters and show that they are also scared of the voters and of themselves. That is the politics of fear that happens. Lets just think for a session, gestational limits compared to international norms. I have a series of articles on that and im going to go through them very quickly. I want to give you some european countries. Austria, limits to the first three months, the rest of these are in weeks. Belgium 12, bulgaria 12, croatia, ten Czech Republic 12, denmark 12, estonia 11, latvia, 12 italy 12, greece 12, france 14. Americas laws pre jobs where some of the most radical on this planet. Right up until the exit of the birth canal, what has happened since then . They left is okay with this strategy of fear and violence. Ohio right to life says officers targeted, democrats have launched ads in lifestyle magazines. Summer of rage, i appreciate that some said 32 or 40. I have one gated june 9th, 56 attacks, including one in bethesda over the weekend. Tax on churches prolife Pregnancy Centers continue, this one is in hutchinson, kansas. The next one i will submit is from Bull Head City in my state. The Justice Department is announcing that it has the Reproductive Rights Task force. And, the threat from the left is that the abortion bans could lose, that is what the New York Times reports, nothing is further from the truth. This is a strategy of fear, it is a strategy of threats and intimidation against members of the Supreme Court. It is a clinic on disinformation by asserting that this law prevents abortion throughout the country, last question for you. Can men become pregnant . Biological women may become pregnant. The gentleman yields back, gentleman from missouri is now recognized. Chair wilson, i thank you, chairwoman maloney for convene in this urgent hearing. Within minutes of the farright Supreme Courts decision to overturn roe and casey, my home state of missouri it was a first state to enact its trigger law and ban abortion care. Despite the wrong information provided by my colleagues on the other side, there are state laws to prosecute people who are performing their own abortions, which includes trans man. So, trans men. More than women, trans men and bought nonbinary people do become pregnant. The criminalization of abortion has health care and legal systems. The majority of states where abortion care has now banned has threatened to enforce criminal laws that target Health Care Providers for administering medication and providing abortion care to those who need it. It was very any provider spectrum inducing and abortion could have a sentence of up to 15 years. In other states like texas the penalty includes the possibility of a life sentence. I have heard from people in st. Louis, they tell me that they are afraid to cross the state lines to access abortion care, which they need, because they fear being investigated and prosecuted at home. Though many of these laws extent pregnant people we know that pregnant outcomes have long been politicized, which is happening in this moment in criminal lives. People have been punished for experiencing pregnancy loss, for struggling with Substance Use during a pregnancy, or self managing abortion care. If states where abortion care is banned and in states where abortion care is legal and protected. A local prosecutor in california charged two women with murder because of their pregnancy loss. I am concerned that farright extremist antiabortion lawmakers in my own state, like our state attorney general, may move to further politicized our rights and criminalize abortion care and pregnancy outcomes, unless we speak up more, unless we act and push harder. And, until we organize to block extremist anti human rights laws and fully protect reproductive freedom. So, representative shane, can you please describe what measures are being taken to protect people from being criminalized for seeking abortion care and georgia . Thank you for the question and thank you for your work on this issue, yes, we have had t. A. S in georgia as well as local municipalities come out and say that they will not use Government Funds to prosecute folks or to investigate folks from having had abortions, should georges for 81 law go into effect. That would effectively outlaw abortion. So, i am glad that you have mentioned what is going on with criminalization because we also, at the same time, have das across the country who are hyper aggressive about finding ways, bending and twisting the law, using other laws to criminalize folks, and we do know there has been an uptick of criminalization of miscarriages across the country. Thank you, thank you so much for those insight, thank you for what you do. Miss goss graves can you please explain how the criminalization of abortion creates a Public Health emergency . So, abortion care is both effective and safe, what is really deeply concerning is if people are either afraid to seek medical care if they need it, or, if providers are chilled, if they are afraid to provide medical care. Not knowing the state of the law. So, it is those things that stand to worsen the health of people seeking abortion care. The other thing that we know is that carrying a pregnancy to term and childbirth is inherently risky, especially for black women. They Maternal Mortality rates are extremely high, so, none of these laws will do anything to aid that and will only worsen those outcomes. Thank you for that clarity, i appreciate that. As our witnesses have extensively described, the impact of this devastating Supreme Court ruling will fall hardest on black, brown, and adjust communities. People with disabilities, undocumented people, queer and trans folks, you, and the most marginalized members of our society. Federal legislators have an obligation, all of us, who chose and signed up to take care of the full, to represent the fall, whether it is regards of what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have. We signed up to work for everyone, we need to work in lockstep with our state and protect access to Reproductive Health care for everyone regardless of where they live. The gentleladys time has expired, thank you. The gentleman from kansas, mr. Lieu turn. Thank you, this was a monumental decision. It signifies a victory for prolife americans ac