Ayanna Pressley: “I thank my dear friend and sister in service, Representative Tlaib, for cohosting this special session with me this…”

“I thank my dear friend and sister in service, Representative Tlaib, for cohosting this special session with me this evening to discuss the critical issue of reproductive justice in our country. As chair of the Abortion Rights and Access Task Force in this first- ever pro-choice majority Congress, I am proud to join my colleagues tonight as we stand up and push back against these unprecedented, coordinated attacks on our collective reproductive rights and liberties. You see, Mr. Speaker, the stakes could not be any higher. Since 2011, anti-choice politicians have pushed a wave of nearly 450 restrictive laws through State legislatures and now all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Over the last year alone, they have enacted 25 bans across dozens of States, pushing comprehensive reproductive healthcare, including abortion care, further and further out of reach. They are working overtime to peddle harmful misconceptions and to legislate abortion out of existence. As a result, reproductive health facilities have been forced to shut their doors, forcing individuals to travel across State lines, shoulder additional financial burdens, and jump through unnecessary and humiliating hoops just to access comprehensive care.…”