On the recordApril 30, 2015
I thank my good friend from Massachusetts for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the many Democrats who have rallied to the defense of reproductive health decisions of men and women in the District of Columbia, especially since this is a resolution to overturn a District of Columbia law that everyone in this Chamber will be able to vote on, except me. I wish to respond to a set of untruths you have heard from the other side that, for example, the D.C. law is an assault on religion. On the contrary, it protects an employer's religious beliefs. He can hold those religious beliefs if that is part of what his organization does. The employee must advocate those beliefs. Whatever the organization or business, the employee must advocate the employer's views, not his own. What the employer cannot do is to go into the employee's bedroom to find out what kind of reproductive choices he makes on his own as a private matter. Abortion has been raised as if it were in this bill. In fact, just the opposite--the D.C. law makes it clear that insurance is not involved, paying for abortion is not involved. Republicans have done almost the inconceivable. They have resumed, with this disapproval resolution, the war on women, by adding men. The D.C. law protects all employees from job discrimination by the employer for their reproductive health choices.…
