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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NewsTranscript
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.