Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, I rise in opposition to this bill for many reasons, but I want to take this opportunity to focus on one in particular. It is the text on women's reproductive health and rights around the world. In 2024, no woman should die while giving life. Every individual should have the right to decide when, whether, and with whom to start a family. Every person should be able to make choices about their bodies without violence or coercion. As we have seen, our colleagues do not share this commitment to reproductive rights. This week, we marked the solemn anniversary of the Dobbs decision, which stripped those rights from tens of millions of women. Now, this bill is trying to take Dobbs global by attacking the health and rights of women and girls around the world. It would also ban contributions to the U.N. Population Fund, UNFPA, an organization that serves 24.2 million women and couples every year. In 2023, with U.S. funding alone, UNFPA saved 4,000 moms from dying in childbirth and prevented 2 million unintended pregnancies through voluntary contraception. It gets worse. This bill would also codify the Trump-era global gag rule into law, which violates the trusted relationships between patients and providers and blocks access to essential reproductive healthcare. For this reason, at the appropriate time, I will offer a motion to recommit this bill back to committee. If the House rules permitted, I would have offered the motion with an important amendment to this bill.…”