Bonnie Watson Coleman: “When I was sworn into this Congress, there was quite a bit of fanfare about how many women now serve in this body. But…”

“When I was sworn into this Congress, there was quite a bit of fanfare about how many women now serve in this body. But even with all of these women, this body is still 80 percent male. Men are running the show, and the sideshow that they have used to distract us from the real reasons each of us was elected has been a persistent, absurd, arrogant, and ignorant effort to impede upon a woman's right to make her own choices about her health. We have wasted--absolutely wasted--taxpayer dollars and valuable time here on the floor of the House again and again and again trying to legislate away something our highest Court confirmed years ago. We could have spent that time talking about the recent rash of police brutality cases that have long plagued communities of color, an issue that has now caught fire in the streets of Baltimore, just a few miles north of us. We could have discussed the lack of job training programs preparing workers for careers in technology and health, the fastest-growing professions in an economy doing nothing for the long-term unemployed. We could have used this time to work on protecting our seniors by expanding Social Security, keeping even more older Americans out of poverty. We could have debated any issue that would offer better opportunities for our constituents, which is what each of us was elected to do. Instead, we put Members of Congress one place we have no right to be; and that is, in a woman's uterus.…”