'This Is Unconstitutional': Dem Senator Spars With Roger Marshall After He Blocks Her Abortion Bill

3 months ago

During remarks on the Senate floor, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) introduced an abortion bill that was objected to by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS).

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Transcript

00:00to urge my Democratic and Republican colleagues to stand with the majority of Americans who believe

00:06a woman should have the right to choose what is best for her and her family, health, and future.

00:14The bills we are advancing today are common sense, straightforward measures that will ensure more

00:21women can access the safe reproductive care that they need and deserve. Our legislation will also

00:28ensure that doctors can do their jobs, get the training they need to keep their patients safe.

00:36For two years, millions of women across this country have lived without full reproductive

00:42rights, while many more live in fear that their rights and freedoms could be on the chopping

00:48block. The overturning of Roe v. Wade has jeopardized Americans' lives, health, and future

00:56fertility. The Dobbs decision also forced women and their doctors to navigate a complicated

01:02and ever-changing patchwork of laws that dictate Americans' rights based on their zip codes.

01:10For example, in my home state of Wisconsin, women were sent back to live under an 1849

01:18criminal abortion ban. Judges and politicians were invited into the exam room,

01:25while lawyers told doctors how to do their jobs. And these dire impacts reached further than exam

01:32rooms. They reached into medical schools that are training our next generation of doctors.

01:39For our top-ranked medical schools, a post-Roe reality sowed chaos, as students and their

01:47instructors wondered how future doctors in our state would have access to the full slate of

01:54training necessary to safely practice obstetrics and gynecology. The overturning of Roe put those

02:02medical schools' accreditations on the line. It opened the prospect that OB-GYNs might not be

02:10trained to provide sometimes life-saving abortion care. No matter who you are, the idea that doctors

02:19could graduate without the proper training to do their jobs and save lives should scare all of us.

02:26We also saw prospective students, who might otherwise be attracted to our top-tier research

02:32institutions, reconsider starting their careers in Wisconsin. We saw a downtick of OB-GYNs residents

02:42interested in coming to our state. And while it's disheartening to say, can you blame them?

02:49Why would you want to start a career in a state that restricts you from doing your job and prevents

02:56your patients from exercising their right to control their own bodies? That's why last year,

03:04I introduced my Reproductive Health Care Training Act, common-sense legislation to support training

03:11for health care providers in abortion care, including for providers forced to travel out

03:17of state due to abortion restrictions. My bill with Senator Murray would help ease the burden

03:24of travel costs for eligible medical programs to expand and support education for students,

03:31residents, and advanced practice clinicians in states that allow comprehensive training

03:37in abortion care. Our legislation would also help ensure that medical programs accommodating an

03:45influx of students have the resources they need to provide training to students who must travel

03:51across state lines to complete their education. The reality of post-Roe America is that there are

03:59still countless places in the United States where medical students cannot access training

04:05in comprehensive reproductive care. The Reproductive Health Care Training Act will

04:11ensure future doctors can meet the needs of their patients and provide safe care, especially in

04:18states like Wisconsin that have abortion restrictions. Every woman, no matter where she lives, deserves

04:25access to comprehensive reproductive care. The Reproductive Health Care Training Act will ensure

04:32America's future doctors are able to provide the sometimes life-saving care Americans deserve.

04:42So, as if in legislative session and notwithstanding Rule 22, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on

04:52Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged from further consideration of S-2024

05:01and the Reproductive Health Care Training Act and the Senate proceed to its immediate

05:07consideration. Further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to

05:14reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. Is there objection? Mr. President. Senator

05:21from Kansas. Reserving the right to object, Mr. President. First of all, let's discuss the title

05:28of this bill. Reproductive Health Care Training Act of 2023. Why are my friends across the aisle

05:36afraid to use the word abortion? This bill has nothing to do with reproductive health care. This

05:42is an abortion training act of 2023. Let's just call it like it is. This is the abortion training

05:48act of 2023. What my colleague from Wisconsin didn't say or tell you is that this bill is

05:55unconstitutional. This bill uses taxpayer dollars to fund a direct pipeline of more abortionists

06:01across the nation through the Department of Health and Human Services. This bill establishes

06:07a program to award grants or contracts to eligible entities for the purposes of expanding and

06:11supporting abortion training and for preparing and encouraging students, encouraging, preparing

06:17and encouraging students to become abortionists. It encourages efforts to train abortionists with

06:23a focus on, get this, a focus on racial and ethnic minority groups, people with disabilities, tribal

06:31and medically underserved communities. Does this imply there's a priority to train and send

06:37abortionists to these groups? This bill authorizes $25 million to be appropriated for this abortion

06:44training pipeline. Again, against the Hyatt Amendment, this is unconstitutional. If this bill

06:50has not received any type of markup from help committee, the federal government should not be

06:54spending taxpayer dollars to encourage medical students and clinicians to take life when their

07:00principal duty, their sacred oath, is to protect life and to do no harm from conception to natural

07:08death. Therefore, I object. The objection is heard. Mr. President. Senator from Wisconsin.

07:18Yet again, my Republican colleagues have sent a clear message to women across America. They don't

07:24think women should have the right to control their bodies. This bill would have ensured more

07:30women could access the safe reproductive care that they need and deserve, including sometimes

07:37life-saving abortion care. Instead, my colleagues have turned their back on the millions of women

07:44in states where abortion is restricted. They've turned their backs on millions of women who are

07:49increasingly struggling to find OB-GYN care in their communities. They've turned their back

07:56on OB-GYN residents and students who just want to learn how to care for their patients.

08:02Without access to training and comprehensive reproductive care for our doctors, more women

08:08in states like my own will live in health care deserts. Without the care they need to stay

08:14healthy, start a family, and get screenings for cancer and other serious illnesses. My

08:21Reproductive Health Care Training Act would have ensured America's future doctors have the training

08:27they need to provide safe care, especially in states that have abortion restrictions.

08:34This fight is not over, and I'm in it for as long as it takes to restore a woman's freedom

08:41to make her own decisions about her health, her family, and her future.

'This Is Unconstitutional': Dem Senator Spars With Roger Marshall After He Blocks Her Abortion Bill

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