Democrats Blast Republicans for Blocking Passage of Three Commonsense Bills to Protect Women’s Reproductive Freedoms and Basic Health Care
Published on July 9, 2024
As Republican politicians continue their relentless assault on a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions, Senate Democrats are fighting back and making clear to the American people who is fighting for their rights—and who is working to take them away
ICYMI from Guttmacher: Clear and Growing Evidence That Dobbs Is Harming Reproductive Health and Freedom
*** WATCH: Murray speaks on Senate floor about continued Republican attacks on reproductive rights; WATCH: Murray attempts to pass Let Doctors Provide Reproductive Health Care Act***
Washington, D.C. — Today, Senate Democrats led by Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) took to the Senate floor to pass by unanimous consent three bills to protect women’s fundamental freedoms and reproductive rights: legislation to help more health care professionals get the training and education they need to meet Americans’ dire reproductive health care needs, to protect doctors providing legal abortion care from Republicans’ nonstop attacks, and to protect the freedom to travel across state lines to access needed abortion care. Republicans blocked every single bill.
The senators spoke out on the Senate floor about the catastrophic and continued fallout from the Dobbs decision and how Donald Trump and Republican politicians are working overtime to attack abortion, contraception, and IVF, and ultimately ban abortion nationwide. With the recent anniversary of the Dobbs decision, Democrats are continuing to keep the spotlight on reproductive rights and fight to pass commonsense and popular bills to protect women’s fundamental reproductive rights.
The senators sought unanimous consent to pass the following pieces of legislation today:
The Reproductive Health Care Training Act (S. 2024), which would support training for health care providers in abortion care—including for providers forced to travel out-of-state due to abortion restrictions—and help meet the need for more women’s health care providers nationwide. Senator Baldwin requested unanimous consent to pass the legislation; Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) blocked the bill.
“When my Republican colleagues blocked these bills today, they sent a clear and stark message to women across America: they don’t think women should have the right to control their bodies. These commonsense, straightforward measures would have ensured more women could access the safe reproductive care they need and deserve,” said Senator Baldwin. “My Reproductive Health Care Training Act would ensure America’s future doctors have the training they need to provide safe care, especially in states that have abortion restrictions. This fight is not over, and I am in it for as long as it takes to restore a woman’s freedom to make her own decisions about her health, family, and future.”
The Let Doctors Provide Reproductive Health Care Act (S. 1297), which would ensure doctors can continue to safely provide legal abortion care and protect health care providers from being held liable for providing services to patients from other states. Senator Murray requested unanimous consent to pass the legislation; Senator Ted Budd (R-NC) blocked the bill.
“This is a simple bill to protect doctors who are providing legal care against attacks from extreme, out-of-state, out-of-touch politicians,” said Senator Murray. “In Washington state, abortion is not only legal but protected by our state constitution. But when I talk to abortion providers in Spokane—where they see a lot of patients fleeing restrictive abortion bans from states like Idaho—they are terrified they could face lawsuits that threaten their practices and their livelihoods just for doing their jobs. Just for providing care their patients need, care that is completely legal in my state. This should be cut and dry. But Republicans, who are in the middle of trying to rewrite history, and claim they only want state politicians overruling women—already an extreme position by the way—just made clear that actually, they have no problem whatsoever with politicians targeting doctors in states like mine where abortion is legal. I think that pretty much gives the game away.”
The Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act (S. 2053), which would ensure women can freely travel for health care after Republican state and local officials have threatened to attack women’s fundamental right to travel out of state to receive health care, including abortion care. Senator Cortez Masto requested unanimous consent to pass the legislation; Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) blocked the bill.
“I stand with the vast majority of Americans who believe that politicians should have no say in a woman’s reproductive health care decisions. Women deserve access to lifesaving care regardless of the state they live in,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “That’s why we must pass the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act now. This is commonsense legislation to uphold a woman’s constitutional right to interstate travel.”
Senator Murray’s full remarks, as delivered on the Senate floor, are below:
“So, to recap: we just tried to pass some very straightforward legislation.
“A bill to protect a woman’s right to travel across state lines to get the health care she needs.
“A bill to protect a doctor’s right to provide legal abortion care to their patients, without being threatened by out-of-state extremists.
“And a bill to help ensure more health professionals can receive critical training in comprehensive reproductive health care, to help meet the dire need for providers.
“Not a single one of these bills should be controversial. To oppose these bills, as Republicans have just done, is truly extreme.
“Are we going to let politicians hold women who want an abortion captive in their states? Seriously?
“If a woman wants to travel somewhere, so she can make her own personal decision about her health care, are Republicans going to tie her hands?
“And if a doctor in a state like mine—where abortion is fully legal, and even protected by our state constitution… if our doctors treat a patient from somewhere like Idaho—something that happens every day, by the way—do we want to let out-of-state extremist politicians threaten, and try to punish them?
“Again, we are talking about health care providers performing an abortion in a state where abortion is legal and protected!
“Republicans are all for states’ rights until it comes to letting women make their own health care decisions.
“And when it comes to training, let’s be clear: abortion is health care. And in some cases, a patient’s life may depend on whether they can get that care or not.
“That is why we need to make sure every provider can get the comprehensive reproductive health training that they need, by supporting medical training programs that are doing this important work.
“It is incredibly frustrating to me that so far, Republicans have blocked these proposals from moving forward.
“It seems when it comes to abortion, there is no bill too simple for Republicans to oppose, there is no right too basic for Republicans to attack, and no problem too important for Republicans to ignore.
“Republicans haven’t just voted down our efforts to restore abortion rights in every state, they have voted against the right to birth control, and they have voted against the right to IVF.
“And now, they have opposed letting patients leave their state for care, letting doctors provide legal care to anyone who comes to them, giving patients control over their own medical data, and helping health providers get the training they need to save a life.
“But let’s be clear, no matter this outcome—no matter how far Republicans follow the most extreme anti-abortion voices in their party—Democrats will keep standing against them, pushing for reproductive rights, and fighting for patients.”
This piece was republished from U.S. Senate Patty Murray.