On the recordFebruary 25, 2016
Let me thank Congresswoman Watson Coleman and my pro-choice colleagues for inviting me to participate in this very timely and important conversation. As we await to hear the Supreme Court's oral arguments next week in the case of Whole Woman's Health, we must reflect on not only the serious implications of this particular case, but on the attacks on choice that have happened across the country this past year. The case against Whole Woman's Health threatens to take the number of clinics in Texas down from 19 to just 10 for the 5.4 million women of reproductive age in Texas. It will also set a legal precedent for years to come--perhaps decades--and it will shape the continued debate on a woman's right to choose. {time} 1845 Clearly, this unacceptable assault on women's health places an undue burden on the women of Texas when accessing abortion and family planning services. I was proud to sign onto the Amicus brief with 162 congressional colleagues in support of Whole Woman's Health. This case, in particular, is a high profile and extreme example of the attacks that are becoming all too common across the United States. While abortion still remains legal in the years since Roe v. Wade, opponents of choice have attempted with varying degrees of success to chip away at a woman's right to choose, this despite the fact that abortions are at their lowest rates since Roe.…
