Jerry Nadler: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. I oppose this closed rule on an obnoxious bill. This bill is just another attempt in…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. I oppose this closed rule on an obnoxious bill. This bill is just another attempt in a long line of Republican attempts to interfere with women's health choices. This bill is part of a disturbing national trend. Some legislators at the Federal, State, and local level are attempting to insert religious exemptions into antidiscrimination and pro-women's health laws with which they do not agree. Rather than trying a frontal assault on the laws themselves--which they know they would lose--they seek instead to use the premise of religion to allow further discrimination against women. We must not let them succeed. Let's be clear what this is really all about. The Republicans are not happy with the Supreme Court's pro-choice decisions. They are not happy with the Affordable Care Act, which provides contraceptive coverage to millions of women with no out-of-pocket costs. {time} 1300 But try as they may, they cannot overturn Roe v. Wade and they cannot repeal ObamaCare. The American people won't let them do that. So now they are trying to bring religion into the discussion and dare us to oppose what they call basic First Amendment principles about freedom of religion. Well, guess what: that is not going to work either. We see their bias, we see their intent, and we will not let them enshrine discrimination into Federal law. We won't let you punish women just because you are not pro-choice. That is not going to happen.…”