Tina Smith: “reserving the right to object, let me just say that the crisis facing women and families in this country is a crisis of…”

“reserving the right to object, let me just say that the crisis facing women and families in this country is a crisis of access with respect to healthcare. The solutions to this crisis are obvious, and I am sorry to see that our Republicans are blocking those solutions at every turn. This bill claims to protect healthcare workers if they refuse to participate in abortion care due to moral or religious obligations, but, of course, we know that those protections already exist in Federal law. And I think this bill would actually go well beyond that. It would, in fact, create a pathway for providers to object to providing other critical prevention and treatment services--for example, treatment to HIV. So I think this is another effort to distract Americans from the core fact that Republicans are trying to restrict access to reproductive health care and reproductive freedom while Democrats are trying to protect them. I, for those reasons, Mr. President, object. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard. The Senator from Oklahoma.”