Nita Lowey: “I have been a cosponsor of this bill for nearly a year. But the amendment before us strips physicians of their right to…”

“I have been a cosponsor of this bill for nearly a year. But the amendment before us strips physicians of their right to speak about their medical, religious, and moral beliefs; and it says doctors can collectively bargain on any subject except those related to abortion and abortion services. Every single time the anti-choice majority in this House can interfere with a women's right to access family planning or choose a legal abortion, they do. It is never enough. This bill contains no mention of any specific health service. It offers no directive about specific benefits or services that must be covered. But here we are debating women's reproductive health care once again. We need not fear that it will be covered because this amendment would ensure it cannot even be discussed. I hope that Americans who are watching this debate will think carefully about the kind of Congress they want to elect in November. We can have a Congress that encourages responsible decision-making and access to quality reproductive health care. We can have a Congress that works to prevent the need for abortion by increasing access to effective family planning methods. Or we can continue to have a Congress like this where nearly every day it seems there is another amendment, another bill to make the right to choose obsolete. This is what it is all about. We are gagging our doctors. We are not giving them the right to negotiate.”