On the recordOctober 13, 2011
H.R. 358 would stop abortion coverage for millions of women. It allows doctors and hospitals to refuse treatment even if women will die without their help. This bill is so extreme that it prohibits a pregnant woman with cancer from getting an abortion so radiation can save her life. For those women, every day and every week of treatment could be the difference between life and death. If this bill passes, we will see thousands more women abandoned by their doctors--women like Stephanie, who was pregnant at 19 weeks. She came to the hospital with a 108-degree fever. The whites of her eyes were filled with blood. She was dying before her doctor's eyes. But the hospital considered the life of the fetus more important than the life of the mother and refused treatment until the fetus died. Because they delayed, Stephanie almost lost her life. This bill should really be called the ``Don't Protect the Life of the Mother Act.''
