Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. DeGETTE. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 26 and urge my colleagues to instead support my motion to recommit to take up and pass Representative Judy Chu's Women's Health Protection Act that will restore the protections that we had under Roe v. Wade.

If there is one thing this last election showed us it is that the American people believe strongly that every woman in this country should have the ability to make her own healthcare decisions, including abortion.

Sadly, however, if there is one thing this past week has shown us, it is that the House Republicans just don't care at all about that.

They don't care that 61 percent of the American people strongly support a woman's access to abortion care.

They don't care that just 2 months ago a record number of Americans showed up at polling locations across the country to overwhelmingly reject the GOP's plan to criminalize abortion care.

They don't care that in every State where abortion restrictions were on the ballot they were rejected overwhelmingly--in places like Kansas.

They don't care that Americans think that people, not politicians, should be making these decisions.

Apparently, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle think they know how abortion decisions should be made, not a woman and her doctor.

So instead of taking heed of the will of the American people, my Republican colleagues are intending to do just the opposite.

The legislation before us today is part of a concerted effort to fast-track this extreme agenda of anti-choice legislation. It creates new criminal penalties for healthcare providers that fail to provide specific standards of care--that the politicians on the other side of the aisle will enact--after an attempted abortion.

It doesn't really protect newborn children in any way. Why?

Because if a child is born it is already illegal to kill it--as it should be. Unlike what the majority leader said, it is already illegal in every single State in this country. It is illegal to kill people in this country.

Just in case anybody was confused about this, as Chairman Nadler said, in 2002 Congress passed the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, and all of us, including me, the co-chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus voted for it because clearly if the baby is born, we shouldn't kill it. Duh.

So what does this bill do? What it does, as I said, it creates criminal penalties for healthcare providers that don't do what the Republicans think they should do, and it creates new, complicated standards that will make it harder for healthcare professionals to do their jobs.

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Ms. DeGETTE. What it does is it hopes to deter doctors from providing abortion care in the first place, which is exactly what we saw after the Dobbs decision. This is not what the American people signed up for.

I strongly urge my colleagues to reject these extreme measures and instead support my motion to recommit to take up and pass the Women's Health Protection Act to ensure that everybody in this country, no matter where they live, has the access to the reproductive care they need.

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Ms. DeGETTE. Madam Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

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Ms. DeGETTE. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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