The Public Record
Ayanna Soyini Pressley is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party, serving as the U.S. Representative for Massachusetts's 7th congressional district since January 3, 2019. She made history as the first African American woman elected to the Boston City Council and the first African American woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts. Pressley is known for her progressive stances on issues such as criminal justice reform, healthcare, and immigration policy.
Even in states like the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which I represent, individuals, particularly low-income and young people, LGBTQ and black and brown folks, continue to face barriers in accessing comprehensive reproductive health care.
Thank you, Acting Chair Maloney, for holding the line on this full committee hearing since the transition of Chairman Cummings.
This is a decision between a woman and her God and her doctor and her life, and only she knows how to make this decision.
I refuse to stand by and see even one more woman's life put in danger because of lack of access to safe and legal abortion.
Banning access to safe, legal abortion is not what the majority of this country wants.
We cannot afford to endure another abortion ban because we are already battling discrimination in healthcare, wages too low to put food on the table, debilitating childcare costs, attacks on immigrants, and threats to our voting rights.
It is shameful but consistent. So, I hope that you can answer the questions that I have.
And while I am relieved that the policy has been reversed, these families and the American people deserve answers.
But what we do want are real answers and justice for these families and a peace of mind, and they deserve that and their children deserve that.
So, I want to politely and respectfully ask you, Mr. Cuccinelli, to look at Mr. Espinoza.
I want to make sure that he understands that to many families this is, literally, a life and death issue.
Pressley and I are working with the committee, are looking for Republicans to work with, to tailor a bill for this group of people that would help them.
In closing, I just want to remind my colleagues here today to not lose sight of why we are here, the families and their critically ill children, whose lives are on the line.
Well, given that it was an abrupt policy that stood to impact, quite literally, the lives of critically ill children, in hindsight, do you think that you should have done some analysis?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And, again, our forever chairman, Elijah Cummings, reminded us that the charge of this committee is to be in efficient and effective pursuit of the truth.
Mr. Cuccinelli, respectfully, you have accepted responsibility for making this egregious policy reversal.
I can only assume it is because no one wants to put their name on such a disastrous, cruel, and un-American policy, and the government officials who made that decision ought to be held to account.
They deserve the certainty that they will be able to remain in this country.
The reckless actions of your agency that have put his variability to receive life-preserving medical care at risk are just unconscionable.
I told them when I met them that I would fight for their children as if they were my own and I intend to honor that.
I never want us to lose sight of the impact on real people's lives when we are talking about policy and that is, in fact, why the American people sent us here.
If we stop asking those questions, we do not identify that problem of discrimination and access.
Politicians like Ayanna Pressley
