• 6 months ago
On Wednesday, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) spoke about the need to pass The Right To Contraception Act, which was later blocked by Senate Republicans.

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Transcript
00:00 So welcome, welcome everyone. Thank you for joining us today and thank you to my
00:06 partners who have come together today for a vote on the Right to
00:11 Contraception Act. In particular, I would like to thank Leader Schumer for his
00:17 tremendous vision and leadership on this issue and my partners on this
00:23 legislation, Senators Hirono and Duckworth and Senators Kaine and Baldwin, my
00:30 colleagues on the HELP Committee for their continued support. And thank you to
00:36 the tremendous partners here today who are fighting for reproductive justice
00:39 and freedom each and every day. Mini Timmaraju, President of Reproductive
00:46 Freedom for All, Virginia State Delegate Sia Price and Karen Stone, Vice
00:53 President of Public Policy and Government Relations at Planned
00:56 Parenthood. Just two years ago this month, the Supreme Court majority overturned
01:01 Roe versus Wade. In doing so, this extremist Supreme Court overturned
01:07 decades of settled precedent to strip away the constitutional right to
01:14 abortion. On June 24, 2022, Americans had one less right than they did on June 23,
01:23 2022. But Dobbs wasn't just about abortion. It was an opening salvo in
01:31 Republicans' anti-freedom, anti-rights war. In his concurring opinion in Dobbs,
01:37 Justice Clarence Thomas distilled the threat to American freedom. He outlined a
01:43 long-held mega extremist belief that Americans had too many privacy rights
01:49 under the United States Constitution, that the Supreme Court erred in
01:54 recognizing those rights, and that the court should take them away. The rights
01:59 he was talking about? The right to marry who you love and the right to
02:04 contraception. Dobbs was an invitation to continue attacking American freedom, to
02:10 make decisions about health and personal freedom. And this extremist court put
02:15 contraception on the chopping block. And so the mega extremists, offended by
02:22 American freedom, began their march attacking Americans' freedom. Texas
02:28 Republicans gutted Medicaid coverage of emergency contraception. Idaho
02:33 Republicans blocked health clinics in public schools from providing
02:37 contraception. Republicans' governors are vetoing state efforts to protect the
02:43 right to contraception. In June of 2022 and 2023, Senate Republicans blocked my
02:51 attempts to pass the Right to Contraception Act on the floor of the
02:55 Senate. 195 House Republicans voted against the Right to Contraception Act.
03:01 In outlining the Trump 2025 agenda, if he wins, the Heritage Foundation made one of
03:08 their goals restricting access to contraception. It's in the Trump 2025
03:15 agenda. And when asked whether he supports restrictions on a person's
03:20 right to contraception, Trump said he would have to look at it. Democrats and
03:26 the vast majority of Americans don't have to look at it. It's settled. A 2023
03:32 poll found that 88% of Americans said birth control was morally acceptable,
03:38 including 86% of Republicans and 93% of Democrats. We know contraception isn't
03:46 contraband. We know that access to contraception, the pill, Plan B, IUDs,
03:53 the are essential for people's health care. We know contraception is
03:58 fundamental to economic and social freedom. And after all, it was the Biden
04:04 administration that made sure birth control pills are available over the
04:09 counter. We are the ones fighting for greater affordability and better access
04:14 to care. And we are the ones fighting to protect this important right by
04:19 blocking Republicans relentless appetite for inserting themselves into
04:25 Americans private lives. I introduced the right to contraception act with my
04:31 partners in reproductive freedom, Senator Serrano and Duckworth as our
04:35 own prophylactic to extremist attacks on contraception access. The right to
04:42 contraception act guarantees Americans have the freedom to get contraception
04:48 and for health providers to give it the right to contraception free from
04:53 federal and state governmental threats and the dignity to choose what
04:57 contraception works best for them and their families. The right to
05:02 contraception act would help us unwind decades of reproductive coercion
05:07 facilitated by bad Supreme Court decisions, attacks on reproductive
05:12 justice and divestment in the health care of black, brown, immigrant, L. G.
05:17 B. T. Q. Disabled, low income and rural Americans. It would help us.
05:22 It would help us to undo the legacy of forced birth and medical experimentation
05:28 on enslaved women, involuntary sterilization of disabled Americans and
05:33 the coercive testing of birth control on black and Puerto Rican women.
05:38 Passing the right to contraception act would be a clear and unequivocal
05:42 statement for health freedom and for justice for everyone in our country.
05:48 Republicans will try to say they support the right to contraception.
05:51 Well, we are calling their bluff yet again by bringing this bill up for a
05:57 vote this afternoon. And this vote poses one simple question. Do you believe
06:03 Americans access to birth control should be protected? Yes or no. And
06:09 each senator, the votes no will be on the record on what they support
06:14 contravening Americans right to contraception. A no vote will show the
06:21 American people how extreme and out of touch their views on reproductive
06:25 rights are. A no vote will prove what the GOP really stands for gutting our
06:32 protections. The American people will remember who protected their
06:35 reproductive rights today. They will remember who fought for their freedom
06:39 today. They will remember who voted yes to the right to contraception act. So
06:45 we thank all of you who are here today who are supporting this effort. It is
06:50 historic. The Dobbs decision was a preview of coming atrocities in
06:55 protections for the American people. That's why we're here today. And now I

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