ICYMI: Murray, Schumer, Senate Democratic Women Introduce Bill Expressing Support for Reproductive Rights, Challenge Republicans to Support at Least the Idea that Women Should Be Able to Access Basic Reproductive Health Care
ICYMI: Murray releases Fact Sheet outlining plans to ban abortion, attack reproductive health care in second Trump administration
Senator Murray: “The American people are with us: every time voters have a say—despite desperate attempts by Republican politicians to stop them—abortion rights win.”
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), issued the following statement on the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s devastating decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe v. Wade.
“Two years after the Dobbs decision, the horrors of our new reality grow every day: more women are denied essential health care and forced to travel long distances under the threat of prosecution, more women are left to get sicker and sicker when they’re in desperate need of care, and more women are forced to beg judges and politicians for the right to end their pregnancies. Americans need to understand that Donald Trump and Republicans created this national nightmare—Trump handpicked Supreme Court justices he knew would overturn Roe, because he believes politicians should be able to call the shots when it comes to the most personal, private medical decisions in a woman’s life.
“Women will not forget the pain and the heartbreak that comes with knowing that you no longer have the right to control your own body; they will not forget being dragged back half a century and losing a constitutional right for the first time in American history. And women will not be fooled by Donald Trump’s lies when we have seen his administration’s detailed plan to ban abortion nationwide, rip away access to safe medication abortion, and appoint anti-choice extremists who will go after doctors and punish women for seeking basic reproductive health care.
“With one more pro-choice Democratic senator, a pro-choice Democratic House majority, and Joe Biden in the White House, we can restore abortion rights for every woman in America. The American people are with us: every time voters have a say—abortion rights win. Democrats will keep fighting with everything we’ve got until women in every state have the right to make their own health care decisions, free from interference by politicians.”
Senator Murray is a longtime leader in the fight to protect and expand access to reproductive health care and abortion rights, and she has led Congressional efforts to fight back after the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision overturning Roe v. Wade last year. Murray led her colleagues at the outset of this Congress to make crystal clear that Senate Democrats are continuing to fight to protect every American’s reproductive rights and will be a firewall against Republicans’ continued attacks on women’s rights—and that’s exactly what she’s doing now. Murray has introduced more than a dozen pieces of legislation to protect reproductive rights from further attacks, protect providers, and help ensure women get the care they need; she also co-leads the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would restore the right to abortion nationwide. Ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision, Senator Murray led Senate Democrats in seeking unanimous consent on the Senate floor for four common-sense bills to protect women’s fundamental freedoms, and in January she led her colleagues in hosting a “State of Abortion Rights” briefing with women who have suffered firsthand from Republican abortion bans. On June 4th, Senator Murray chaired a HELP Committee hearing titled “The Assault on Women’s Freedoms: How Abortion Bans Have Created a Health Care Nightmare Across America.” Recently, Murray also helped lead efforts to force Republicans on the record on votes to protect access to contraception and access to IVF—Senate Republicans blocked consideration of both bills, showing once again how extreme and out-of-step they are with the American people. In advance of the Dobbs anniversary, Murray, Schumer, and other Senate Democratic women introduced a bill expressing support for reproductive rights and challenging Republicans to at least support the idea that women should be able to access basic reproductive health care.