Louise Slaughter: “I rise to express my great regrets about the inclusion of the Weldon-authored provision that undermines the rights of a…”

“I rise to express my great regrets about the inclusion of the Weldon-authored provision that undermines the rights of a State to enforce its own laws. If this bill passes, and I am sure it will, that means that from now on State and local governments failing to comply with the Weldon provision put at risk all of their State Medicaid funding, all their SCHIP funding, all their Head Start money, all their child care development block grant money, and all their social services block grant money. In short, anything that comes to the State or local government from the Labor-HHS bill. How is that for coming down with a pretty heavy hand? Simply put, it restricts the States' autonomy and right to self-governance and undermines States' ability to enforce their own constitutional protections. If a State chooses to enforce its own laws and require an HMO to provide abortion counseling or services, it will pay a very heavy price. None of us, I believe, are going to want to explain to the senior citizens that the nutrition programs are over, that Medicare is gone, that the Social Security check will not be there, denying the Federal funds for State and local governments that attempts to ensure that a woman has full access to reproductive health services and information. Once again, the land of the free and the home of the brave is going to control the information going to its citizens.”