On Thursday, House Democrats held a press briefing on reproductive freedom to mark the second anniversary of the Supreme Court Dobbs decision.
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NewsTranscript
00:00I'm gonna show you an introduction.
00:03Hi!
00:04How are you?
00:05How are you?
00:06I'm good, you've met this one?
00:07Yeah, I've met her.
00:08Right.
00:09This is Dave.
00:10Yeah, right.
00:11So you've got to get back.
00:12Yes.
00:13Thank you.
00:14Thank you.
00:15Good morning, everybody.
00:16Good morning.
00:17We're working for you.
00:18I have a question.
00:19I'm Joe and I was a graduate student.
00:20And I'm Kathy, and we're going to give you a little bit of an introduction.
00:21All right.
00:22So I'm Kathy.
00:23I'm a graduate student at the University of Michigan.
00:24And I'm going to give you a little bit of an introduction.
00:25You're going to be answering questions.
00:26Yeah.
00:27It's a good introduction.
00:28Good morning.
00:58Let me begin by thanking Representative Diana DeGette and Representative Barbara Lee, our
01:03extraordinary co-chairs of the Pro-Choice Caucus, for their leadership and for gathering
01:09us here today, united as House Democrats in full, complete, and unequivocal support for
01:18reproductive freedom.
01:23Let me also thank Representative Judy Chu, Representative Kathy Manning, and Representative
01:28Susan Wilde for their extraordinary leadership.
01:32Two years ago, the far-right extreme Supreme Court majority overturned Roe v. Wade and
01:41detonated reproductive freedom for millions of American women.
01:46The catastrophic decision in Dobbs was just one part of the extreme MAGA Republican plan
01:56to impose a nationwide abortion ban, outlaw contraception, and limit access to IVF.
02:06Today, reproductive freedom is under assault throughout America.
02:13House Democrats unequivocally believe in a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive
02:22health care decisions, period, full stop.
02:28It's a decision that should be between a woman, her family, her faith, and her doctors.
02:35The far-right's extreme effort to take away reproductive freedom is unacceptable, unconscionable,
02:45and un-American.
02:47We must stop them, and together, we will stop them.
02:55House Democrats will continue to fight for nationwide access to abortion care.
03:08House Democrats will continue to fight for access to contraception.
03:12House Democrats will continue to fight for access to IVF.
03:17We will continue to stand up.
03:19We will continue to show up.
03:21We will continue to speak up.
03:24We will pass the Women's Health Protection Act.
03:27We will pass the Right to Contraception Act.
03:29We will pass IVF protection legislation.
03:32We will not rest until reproductive freedom is the law of the land for every single woman
03:40in the United States of America.
03:43It is now my honor to yield to a tremendous champion for reproductive freedom, our extraordinary
03:53whip, the Honorable Katherine Clark.
04:01Thank you, Mr. Leader.
04:02I am so proud to stand with this caucus as we mark this critical anniversary of taking
04:10away, rolling back 50 years of a constitutional right under Trump's Supreme Court.
04:18What has happened in the last two years?
04:2027 million American women now live under health care bans.
04:26Doctors are being criminalized, IVF and contraception are under attack.
04:33And what does this mean?
04:34Let me share you a story from my second pregnancy, where a routine ultrasound showed that there
04:41was no longer a fetal heartbeat.
04:44And when I needed abortion care, because there wasn't a full miscarriage to prevent infection,
04:51to preserve future fertility, I got that care without question.
04:57Fast forward to a post-Dobbs, a post-Roe v. Wade, Texas.
05:02Amanda Zyrowski waterbroke at 18 weeks pregnant.
05:08Her pregnancy could not survive, yet her doctor, because of criminal penalties, could not give
05:14the care she recommended.
05:16She was told to go home, wait for infection to set in.
05:21And it did.
05:23She had a sepsis infection, spent days in the ICU, barely survived, and today does not
05:29know if she will ever be able to become pregnant again.
05:35What is the difference in the outcome of our two stories of miscarriage?
05:41It is Donald Trump and the GOP who has dismantled women's health care and reproductive freedom
05:49in this country.
05:51We are at a crossroads.
05:53We are going to choose freedom, or we are going to choose extremism.
05:59And every single time this has come before Americans for a vote, they have chosen freedom.
06:09That is in Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky.
06:16Every single time, Americans stand with freedom.
06:21And this caucus and this president stand with them.
06:27And I am so pleased to introduce a champion for reproductive freedom, a champion for returning
06:34these critical decisions to American women and American families where they belong, co-chair
06:42of our pro-choice caucus, Barbara Lee.
06:47Well, good morning, everyone.
06:51Let me first thank Leader Jeffries, Whip Clark, Chair Aguilar, our co-chair of the
06:56pro-choice caucus, Diana DeGette, for their bold leadership.
07:00I am a proud Democrat, and I am so proud of our Democratic caucus.
07:05Thank you all very much for staying the course on this issue that really is about life or
07:11death.
07:12As co-chair of the pro-choice caucus with Congresswoman DeGette, I am proud to be in
07:16this fight with all of you and with all of our incredible, inspiring coalition partners
07:21doing the work on the ground.
07:24Two years ago, five extremist Supreme Court justices voted to take our country back decades
07:30and revoke a fundamental right of millions by overturning Roe.
07:36This is yet another attack on our democracy.
07:40Now millions of Americans of reproductive age are living without access to abortion
07:45care, suffering preventable harm to their bodies and their lives.
07:51This anniversary, it's a stark reminder of the casualties in the GOP's war on reproductive
07:57freedom.
07:59But it also must be a call to action.
08:01It's a wake-up call, because this cannot continue.
08:06Tonight, the two candidates for president will debate for the first time in this election.
08:12I hope the country is paying attention not only to how they talk about abortion, but
08:19what they've actually done about it.
08:22From day one, the Biden administration has shown a clear and early commitment to sexual
08:28and reproductive health and rights.
08:30He has taken concrete actions to protect access to abortion, including medication abortion,
08:37the ability to travel for reproductive care, access to affordable, quality contraception,
08:43safeguarding the privacy of patients and health care providers, and more.
08:48The extreme GOP and their allies on the Supreme Court could not be more opposite.
08:54They've continued an assault on reproductive freedom through harmful legislation at each
09:01level of government and in states across the nation.
09:04Let's be clear, Republicans are ready and eager to institute a national ban and create
09:11more suffering.
09:13We cannot let them do that.
09:16We cannot let GOP extremism continue to subvert the will of the people.
09:22As someone who had an unsafe and illegal abortion before Rome, we cannot allow this
09:29country to revert back to those days.
09:33The majority of Americans support the right to an abortion.
09:37Our caucus won't stop fighting until our laws reflect our democratic values and our own
09:46freedoms to make our own health care decisions without interference, mind you, from judges
09:53and elected officials.
09:55Thank you again.
09:56And now I'd like to yield to our woman warrior, Diana DeGette.
10:09Thank you so much, Barbara.
10:11Well, as you've heard, it was two years ago today when the Supreme Court, for the first
10:17time in our nation's history, took away a freedom that all Americans have.
10:23And the results were swift, and they were devastating.
10:28Twenty-one states have banned or severely restricted abortion, and those laws took effect
10:36the very next day after the Dobbs decision.
10:40In Ohio, a young girl who had been the victim of rape had to be taken across state lines
10:47to get the health care that she needed.
10:50In Texas, as you heard, a woman was sent home because the doctor was afraid of criminal
10:58prosecution, and she almost died from sepsis before she could get the health care that
11:04she needed.
11:06I just saw the reports this week of the birth rates and the infant mortality, which have
11:12gone up since the Dobbs decision, up since the Dobbs decision.
11:18Imagine the cruelty, and imagine the impact on countless Americans.
11:27One in three women and more than half of black women in this country live in states where
11:34they don't have access to abortions.
11:37And as states enact new and tighten existing restrictions, and as the impacts of these
11:42cruel laws grow, more and more Americans are being forced to leave their homes, to somehow
11:50take leave from their jobs, and flee their states to get the care they need.
11:55And that's just the people who can afford to do that.
11:59Everybody else, too bad for them.
12:02And these draconian states, laws, they don't just affect states like Colorado, or like
12:09Texas, they affect states like Colorado, my home state, where abortions have gone up by
12:16three times, and where Coloradans have to wait along with everybody else to get the
12:22health care they need.
12:24So what have the House Republicans done to alleviate this problem?
12:29They refused to take up the Women's Health Protection Act.
12:33But not only that, 187, 187 members of the House Republican caucus have co-sponsored
12:43legislation that says that pregnancy begins, or that personhood begins when the egg and
12:50the sperm meet, giving those fetuses the same rights from conception that all of us
13:00have today.
13:01What would that mean if that became law, that 187 of them have sponsored?
13:07It would mean that all abortions, no exceptions, from day one would be banned.
13:14It would mean that in vitro fertilization would be banned.
13:20It would mean that many common forms of birth control would be banned.
13:27And it would mean that life-saving stem cell research would be banned.
13:32I am not exaggerating.
13:35I am not exaggerating.
13:37This is the agenda of the far right-wing extreme House majority.
13:43They don't really want to talk about it right now because they realize that the vast majority
13:49of Americans and the vast majority of their constituents oppose these extreme laws.
13:57But make no mistake, if they keep the House, if they take the Senate, and if Donald Trump
14:03wins the White House, this is exactly the far right majority that will enact these laws.
14:13We simply cannot let this happen on behalf of the American people, and we will not let
14:19it happen.
14:20One of the first bills we will pass in Congress, when we take the majority and Hakeem Jeffries
14:26becomes the next speaker, is the Women's Health Protection Act, and we will restore freedom
14:36for all Americans to make their own health care decisions, including abortion, for everybody
14:43in every state in this country, because that's the way we do it in America.
14:48I'm now pleased to introduce the primary sponsor of the Women's Health Protection Act, another
14:54fierce warrior for choice, Congresswoman Judy Chu.
15:03Abortion is health care.
15:05Always has been, always will be.
15:08But two years ago, the MAGA justices on the Supreme Court ripped away reproductive freedoms
15:15from tens of millions of Americans with their dog's decision.
15:20For the first time in American history, young women have fewer rights than their grandmothers.
15:27But it does not have to be this way.
15:30Congress can pass my bill, H.R. 12, the Women's Health Protection Act, to restore the protections
15:38of Roe and protect patients and providers from state-level bans and restrictions that
15:45impede access.
15:47Now, in the last Congress, we passed this bill off the floor twice, and it became the
15:56most supported pro-choice bill in the history of Congress.
16:03And I know that when we take back the House, when we keep the Senate, and when we reelect
16:10President Biden, this will be the first bill that will pass out of the floor and out of Congress.
16:20And with that, every woman in every zip code in this country will have the right to an
16:28abortion and reproductive freedom.
16:32You know, Republicans could provide relief to women in this country right now.
16:39But Republicans in Congress refuse to act.
16:43If Republicans had their way, Congress would pass a national abortion ban, and this would
16:50be a nation of forced birth.
16:54But we, the House Democrats, are not done fighting.
16:57When we once again control Congress, we will send a bill to President Biden to sign to
17:02restore and strengthen Americans' reproductive freedoms.
17:09And now, I would like to turn the podium over to a champion for contraceptive rights, Congressmember
17:16Kathy Manning.
17:21Thank you, and good morning, everyone.
17:23I am so proud to stand alongside Democratic leadership and my fellow House Democrats to
17:29draw attention to the widespread consequences of the Dobbs decision.
17:34Two years ago, when that horrifying Dobbs decision was handed down, not only did it
17:41endanger women's health and turn back the clock on women's freedoms, but it also called
17:47into question other longstanding constitutionally protected freedoms.
17:53It gave extreme Republicans the green light to attack women's health care in any way they
17:59could, including by attacking birth control.
18:03In fact, in Justice Clarence Thomas' concurring opinion, he explicitly called for the reconsideration
18:11of Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court 1965 opinion that first established the constitutional
18:20right to use birth control.
18:22And that concurring opinion served as a rallying cry for extremist state legislatures to ramp
18:29up their attacks on birth control.
18:32That's why right after Dobbs was released, I introduced my Right to Contraception Act
18:38to safeguard that right for every American, the right to access the full range of FDA-approved
18:46birth control methods.
18:48The right to birth control is supported by an overwhelming bipartisan majority of Americans,
18:55and almost every woman will use some form of birth control during her lifetime.
19:01I've seen many of my Republican colleagues claim to support birth control, but when they're
19:06put to the test, they show us who they really are.
19:11Last Congress, 195 Republicans voted against the right to use birth control, including
19:18every Republican from the state of North Carolina.
19:22Republicans blocked the bill in the Senate both last Congress and this Congress.
19:27Speaker Johnson has refused to move this bill in the House.
19:31Meanwhile, radical politicians in states across the country are sharpening their knives.
19:36We're seeing laws introduced to restrict emergency contraception, governors vetoing bills to
19:43establish the right to birth control, and watching as politicians blatantly spread disinformation
19:51to falsely conflate abortion with contraception.
19:55They're even going after IUDs, calling them abortifacients.
20:01So I introduced a discharge petition to force a vote on my Right to Contraception Act, and
20:07it's time for House Republicans to show the American people exactly where they stand on
20:13this issue.
20:14If they support birth control, like so many of them claim to, then they should sign my
20:19discharge petition and join us in making sure we can protect this essential form of healthcare.
20:27We can no longer play defense with our reproductive rights.
20:32We must go on offense and proactively safeguard birth control at the federal level.
20:39Thank you.
20:40And now I'm going to turn over the podium to my friend, our chair of the Democratic
20:45Caucus, Pete Aguilar.
20:50I'm going to turn over the chair to my dear friend, Diana DeGette, who's going to step
20:54in and help us talk about IVF.
21:01So I just want to jump in and say we just this minute learned the Supreme Court has
21:06in fact confirmed its leaked decision on the emergency abortion laws in Idaho just this
21:13moment.
21:14And so what they have done is they've dismissed the emergency appeal.
21:19What this means, practically speaking, is that women in Idaho, even despite Idaho's
21:25very restrictive abortion laws, will be able to still get emergency abortions while the
21:33court case makes its way through court.
21:36But let's not be under any illusions.
21:38Idaho only allows people in emergency situations, in emergency rooms, to get abortions.
21:47And so all the rest of the people in Idaho who need abortions as part of their regular
21:53health care still are banned from getting abortions.
21:57This is good news, but believe you me, it does not change any of what we've said today.
22:02Thanks.
22:03And thank you, Pete, for letting me jump in.
22:05And now I yield to our wonderful caucus chair.
22:08Thank you so much, Diana, for your leadership.
22:11And thank you to Leader Jeffries and Whip Clark for bringing us together today.
22:16We've heard from members who represent the country and our communities across this grand
22:22land to reflect the nation's rich diversity.
22:26But we are united by a common purpose, to undo the damage that Donald Trump's Supreme
22:31Court has done to the millions of American women living under cruel abortion bans.
22:38The Democratic caucus is so fortunate to have an incredible group of leaders, especially
22:43those here today, in the fight for reproductive freedom.
22:47For two years, our members have been on the front lines, in their communities, and they
22:51will not stop working until abortion care is accessible for women across the country
22:58and IVF is safe from attacks of MAGA extremists.
23:02And we know we can't let up because extreme Republicans have shown time and time again
23:07that they will not accept anything less than a national abortion ban and to end IVF as
23:13we know it.
23:15House Republicans want to limit reproductive freedom?
23:18House Democrats say no.
23:21House Republicans want to go after contraception?
23:24House Democrats say no.
23:28House Republicans want to eliminate IVF and your ability to make your own decisions about
23:34your family?
23:35House Democrats say no.
23:38We will not let that happen.
23:40We will not let their extremism continue.
23:42Together, House Democrats will keep the focus on the issue of reproductive freedom from
23:47now until November.
23:49We will defend the right of every American to make their own decisions about when and
23:54how to start a family.
23:57Thank you so much for joining us.
24:06Thank you.
24:12Can we get a picture with Katherine?