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Senate Democrats promote efforts to protect reproductive rights.

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00:00 is here. It's restoring Roe and letting women decide what is best for them. Not
00:06 the federal government, not state governments, women. We have to pass our
00:12 Women's Health Protection Act to ensure that women have the right to make their
00:17 own health care decisions. Doctors can get the training they need and Americans
00:22 can find the care they need without driving hours or being forced to go out
00:28 of state. And I'm committed to doing whatever it takes to do just that. And
00:34 next I'd like to turn the podium over to Senator Kelly.
00:40 Thank you. Good morning everybody. So women in Arizona deserve the right to
00:52 make their own decisions about abortion. But right now they can't and that's
00:57 because Roe v. Wade was overturned. Doctors and women in Arizona are living
01:03 with uncertainty and chaos as our state whiplashes between two abortion bans. A
01:12 backwards 1864 law that bans nearly all abortions may still take effect for some
01:21 time. And the back and forth between these two bans prevents doctors from
01:27 just being able to focus on their jobs. I've heard stories from physicians who
01:34 think and have to weigh and risk doing what's right for their patients and also
01:42 doing what's right for their own family because of the risk to them personally.
01:47 And that puts women's lives at risk. And I've spoken to several doctors who are
01:54 thinking of leaving the state and many who have already left. I've been on zoom
01:58 calls and seeing the cardboard boxes piled up in the back and it's because
02:04 that they can't practice under these current circumstances.
02:07 We know physicians are choosing not to come to Arizona because of our
02:13 restrictive laws. Residency applications. Get this residency applications in
02:20 Arizona decreased by nearly 20% from 2023 to 2024. And for obgy ends
02:28 applications dropped by more than 25%.
02:33 The only way to fix this is by codifying abortion rights into law once
02:41 and for all. The majority of folks in my state in the state of Arizona
02:48 support abortion rights.
02:49 And I don't think this 18 64 ban defines who we are as Arizonans. We
02:58 have to fix this
02:59 and I hope we will. And with that, let me turn it over to dr Belmont. He who
03:06 is a obgy and here in the D. C. Area.
03:10 Mhm.
03:10 Hello and thank you for having me here today. My name is dr Michael Belmont
03:22 T. And I'm a practicing obgy and here in Washington D. C. And I'm here with
03:28 as a fellow with three physicians for reproductive health. In my practice, I
03:34 am proud to provide full spectrum reproductive health care, which includes
03:38 abortion care, contraceptive care as well as prenatal and maternal health
03:43 care. The impact of the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs and extreme state
03:48 abortion bans and restrictions have had far reaching consequences impacting
03:53 communities across the country and the providers like myself that care for
03:58 them. Following the Dobbs decision, providers have been forced to shift to
04:02 the care or services that they provide, relocate or even cease operate
04:07 offering care altogether in response to medically unnecessary and extreme
04:12 state laws, the increasing threats of criminalization and threats to our
04:17 medical licensure and livelihood
04:19 training opportunities in sexual and reproductive health care for those in
04:24 restrictive states have severely diminished and become even more
04:28 difficult to access. In fact, data showing Dobbs is impacting the decision
04:34 of graduating physicians regarding their chosen practice specialty and
04:38 location have severe consequences for communities. The survey that was
04:43 already mentioned speaks to nearly 60% of those saying that they would be
04:49 unlikely to apply to residency programs in states that restrict abortion and
04:55 residency applications in states with the abortion restrictions have fallen
05:00 with the hardest fall felt in ob gyn residency programs
05:05 in states with complete abortion bans. The number of applicants to ob gyn
05:10 residency programs fell by more than 10% when compared to the prior year.
05:16 I'm fearful for what that means for the provider workforce when coupled with
05:21 the reality that existing provider shortages have been exacerbated by
05:26 abortion bans as well as by multiple ongoing public health crises harming
05:31 communities who already face the most barriers to care.
05:34 There have been far reaching consequences for maternal health and
05:39 health care writ large. Data shows that maternal and infant death rates are
05:44 higher and have increased twice as fast in states that ban or restrict
05:49 abortion and both abortion bans and a lack of high quality maternal health
05:54 care disproportionately harm black indigenous and other people of color.
05:59 I would also be remiss if I did not name the harm that Dobbs decision has
06:04 had directly on myself and my colleagues. The inability to provide
06:10 care that we know to be routine and necessary for patients and the climate
06:15 of fear, confusion and increased legal risk have both tangible and intangible
06:20 impacts. These include the economic costs of being forced to relocate to a
06:26 new state in order to continue practicing medicine, the mental health
06:30 toll of taking on legal risk and the threats to our safety from providing
06:34 abortion care in increasingly hostile environments. While we are already
06:39 beginning to see these widespread impacts on the health care provider
06:43 workforce, we expect these consequences to intensify as providers continue to
06:49 try and meet the demand for critical health care services amidst a
06:53 constantly changing and adverse legal environment. Physicians for
06:58 reproductive health is proud to support the let doctors provide
07:02 reproductive health care act, which would ensure providers in states where
07:06 abortion remains legal are protected from any efforts to restrict their
07:10 practice or create uncertainty about their legal liability. Thank you. And
07:16 with that, I will pass the mic to dr Reagan.
07:19 Good morning.
07:25 I think Senator Murray, Senator Baldwin, Senator Kelly and my colleague,
07:30 Dr De Monte for being able to speak with you here today. And I appreciate
07:35 the opportunity to share my experience with you. I'm dr Reagan Mcdonald
07:38 Mosley, the ceo of power to decide and a practicing physician who provides
07:43 comprehensive abortion care as part of my practice here in the state of
07:47 Maryland. The impact of the Dobbs decision has been in a word
07:51 devastating. As of today, 14 states have active abortion bans and seven
07:56 additional states have restrictions on abortion care that would not have been
08:00 allowed under the protections of row. New research has shown that more than
08:04 half of black women, 57% live in states with little or no access to abortion
08:09 care. And these are the same people living in states with high maternal
08:13 mortality rates and glaring disparities to access to health care. As a
08:18 provider, I know how to deliver high quality evidence based care to my
08:22 patients. I trained for years to do so. Over the last two years, I've seen
08:26 more patients who have traveled hundreds and even thousands of miles
08:30 to get care with me. And those are the ones who are able to reach me. There
08:35 are so many more we know who cannot. So many of my colleagues now have had to
08:40 navigate in an environment full of fear, confusion and increased legal risk for
08:45 providing evidence based and necessary care for their patients. And some
08:49 providers have had to relocate or cease offering care altogether in response
08:53 to restrictive laws and bands in their state. And this is not just a problem
08:58 in states with bands. Wait times for appointments in states that have
09:02 protections for abortion access, like my home state of Maryland, have
09:06 increased as we do our best to care for as many patients as possible.
09:10 Meanwhile, our patients remain scared and confused. A 2023 power to decide
09:22 survey found that 73% of respondents said that they did not know of a clinic
09:27 or a health center where they could get the abortion care if they wanted or
09:30 needed an abortion. That's why we've built and support abortion finder dot
09:34 org, where millions of people turn to find where they can go to get abortion
09:38 care. We've seen more than seven million visits to abortion finder since the
09:43 Dobbs decision. So it's clear that people need and are actively seeking
09:47 trustworthy resources on abortion care. But there are simply not enough
09:51 providers in far too many bands for everyone to get abortion care that
09:55 they're seeking. And the problem is only going to get worse as the data
09:59 that's been presented today has shown from the American Medical Association
10:02 shows that students graduating from U. S. Medical schools were less likely to
10:06 apply for residency positions in states with abortion bands and restrictions.
10:11 These consequences will only exacerbate health inequities across the country.
10:16 As health care providers, we trust our patients to know what they need. We
10:20 also know that abortion is health care, and yet too many of us are being
10:25 prevented from providing that care, and too many people are suffering as a
10:29 result. We need policy makers to protect providers and our patients.
10:34 Thank you so much for the opportunity to share my experience with you today.
10:38 Good morning. My name is Karen Stone, and I'm the vice president of public
10:50 policy and government relations at Planned Parenthood Federation of
10:53 America. On behalf of all of us are Planned Parenthood and our hundreds of
10:57 health centers around the country. I'm grateful to the incredible reproductive
11:01 rights champions here today for their relentless advocacy for sexual and
11:05 reproductive health and rights. Thank you to Leader Schumer, Senators
11:08 Murray, Baldwin and Kelly for hosting this event today and for including us.
11:13 Personal medical decisions should be made by an individual in consultation
11:17 with their doctor, not lawmakers and judges. The right to bodily autonomy
11:22 and self determination. The freedom to make decisions about your own body
11:26 should not be dependent on the state in which you live, how much money you
11:29 make your race, your sexual orientation, your gender identity or your
11:34 immigration status. Restrictions have decimated abortion access for decades,
11:39 and now 21 states have eliminated access to some or all abortions since
11:44 the Dobbs decision nearly two years ago, putting an unimaginable strain on
11:49 health care providers. It is no surprise that the results of the dangerous
11:53 agenda of anti abortion public officials is not only forcing health
11:57 care providers to reconsider where they practice medicine, but if they want to
12:01 practice at all,
12:02 we hear from providers across the country every day about the challenges
12:07 they're facing on the front lines of this public health crisis. Doctors are
12:12 being forced to wait for lawyers to declare a patient sick enough for
12:15 medical intervention. Some can face prison time just for doing their job to
12:19 support people navigating impossible logistics to access basic necessary
12:24 health care. Abortion providers are heroes, and public officials have a
12:29 responsibility to ensure they can do their jobs to the best of their ability,
12:32 free from interference for politicians, judges and those with a different
12:36 viewpoint. Furthermore, people across the country who no longer have access
12:40 to abortion care are being forced to travel hundreds of miles or more to
12:44 access the essential care they need, and that's only if they're able to
12:48 have the means to be able to do so. These barriers increase costs and
12:53 wait times for time sensitive care and increasingly can push care completely
12:58 out of reach for people with less resources. Because of this country's
13:02 legacy of racism and discrimination, abortion bans disproportionately harm
13:05 communities of color, LGBTQ individuals and disabled people. Everyone should be
13:11 able to get an abortion in their own community. No one should be forced to
13:14 travel. No one should have to navigate barriers to basic and time sensitive
13:18 health care like abortion. Americans overwhelmingly support providing access
13:22 to abortion care, and we must continue to find every avenue to do so. As we
13:27 face two more decisions from the Supreme Court this term on abortion
13:30 rights, we are incredibly grateful for our champions in the Senate who are
13:33 continuing to fight every day to support abortion providers and patients
13:37 around the country. This fight is long for from over, and we're grateful for
13:41 everything that you do.
13:46 And we're pleased today to be joined by our majority leader, Senator Schumer,
13:50 who's been just a ferocious advocate for women, and we thank him for that.
13:53 More ferocious than I look. Um, anyway, I apologize for being late. I had to
14:00 open up the floor, um, and make sure that our border bill is in place for a
14:05 vote on Thursday. Well, I want to thank Senator Murray for hosting today's
14:11 presser and my colleague, Senator Baldwin and Kelly for continuing to
14:15 stand up to Republican attacks on reproductive health care. They've been
14:19 great, great advocates and also ferocious. Um, uh, I also want to thank
14:27 Dr McDonald, Mosley, Dr Belmont, Dr Belmont, Karen Stone and all of
14:32 Pran, Parenthood. You're on the front lines of this fight. So thank you for
14:38 being with us. Now, why are we here? Because two nearly two years ago, a
14:43 woman's right to privacy and autonomy was upended by the Supreme Court when
14:48 it overturned row. This tragic, alarming, outrageous decision didn't
14:54 happen in a vacuum. As we all know, far right Republicans have been working
14:59 systematically to dismantle a woman's fundamental right to choose, and they've
15:04 been working at it for decades. The most extreme elements of the Republican
15:08 Party have made clear their mission to eliminate this freedom of choice. And
15:13 we can't forget that John Donald Trump said just a few weeks ago that he was
15:18 proud to be the person who paved the way to overturn row. Make no mistake,
15:24 he'll be at it again if God forbid he becomes president. So that was the word
15:30 President Trump used proud. He's not even hiding it. So with the Dobbs
15:35 decision, they opened the floodgates for draconian and cruel bans on women's
15:40 choice all across America. Republican abortion bans around the country have
15:44 done irreparable harm. They have put hard right Republican politicians in
15:50 charge of women's personal health care decisions. Who the heck are they to tell
15:55 a woman what she should do with her body? And they've thrown our nation's
15:58 health care providers into chaos, forcing providers to leave their states
16:03 to shut down their practices, limiting providers ability to provide evidence
16:07 based care and making them turn away patients in distress. Young doctors are
16:12 now deciding where to train, and for the second year there's a stark decrease in
16:16 providers choosing programs in states with abortion bans. We hear these
16:21 stories all the time. I just heard last week about a young doctor who left his
16:25 home state of Oklahoma to come to New York to begin his OBGYN presence at our
16:30 state university system. Now in New York we pass shield laws that provide legal
16:36 protections for New York doctors to prescribe and send abortion bills to
16:41 patients in states that have outlied abortion. And this isn't just
16:45 OBGYNs. It's all kinds of providers, people who can't imagine starting or
16:49 growing their families in states where necessary health care options are simply
16:54 put criminalized. It's cruel. It's utter chaos for patients and doctors. It goes
17:00 against the very idea of do no harm. So today we're here to say loud and clear
17:05 Democrats stand with women, with our nation's and with our nation's health
17:09 care providers. We will never ever stop fighting against these Republican
17:14 attacks. We will never ever stop fighting to take back these rights from the far
17:19 right extremists who want to pose their views on the country that
17:22 overwhelmingly do not agree with them. Democrats cannot and will not simply
17:28 accept a new status quo. When the MAGA Supreme Court single signal the end of
17:33 Roe and declared there was no constitutional right to an abortion it
17:36 meant our children will grow up in a world with fewer liberties than previous
17:40 generations. The effect was instantaneous and devastating. One in three women in
17:45 America lost access to abortion. And we know this has a disproportionate effect
17:50 on certain Americans more than others. Rural and low-income Americans, people of
17:55 color, members of the LGBTQ community, particularly the trans community and
17:59 black Americans. The far right has shown that they actually want to force the
18:04 entire force their will on the entirety of this country. We all know they won't
18:10 stop until they've enacted a federal abortion ban. They will not stop America
18:15 until they get a federal abortion ban. So join with us. The American people have
18:21 told us time and time again they reject this MAGA agenda. They have voted against
18:25 it at the ballot box in midterms, marched in support of it, in support for access
18:29 by the thousands. They've rallied time and time again in support of access to
18:35 abortion as more cases wind their way through the courts. And there are cases
18:39 now in Texas, Idaho, New Mexico, to name a few. There are cases coming up before the
18:44 Supreme Court looking at access to Mephistopheles Stone and a hospital's
18:48 obligation to provide life-saving emergency care. Every day the legal
18:53 landscape gets more complicated. It's leaving women and health care providers
18:57 in the lurch. So Democrats will not stop fighting tooth and nail to stop that
19:03 from happening. We will not relent. We will not give up. We know, we know deeply
19:09 in our hearts, history's on our side and we're determined to preserve the
19:14 precious rights that are the bedrock of America. Thank you.
19:19 Thank you, Leader Schumer, and I'm happy to answer any questions.
19:28 Senators Cruz and Britt yesterday introduced legislation that would federally protect IVF. Do you plan on supporting that? And if not, why not make a small gain to protect it?
19:38 If Republicans really wanted to make sure that IVF was available, they would support our effort to make sure that IVF is in every state. I am confident that our legislation will do that. We are not going to accept any legislation that puts in law personhood.
19:56 Yes.
19:58 A question for both you and the advocates. Louisiana lawmakers today are considering a bill that would put abortion pills as controlled substances. And I wanted to get your reaction to that as well as whether you're afraid that...
20:10 Is this the House? I'm sorry.
20:12 The Louisiana State lawmakers' legislature. I wanted to get your reaction to that as well as if you fear that it'll be replicated in other states.
20:20 Okay, tell me again what the bill does.
20:22 It would classify methamphristone as a controlled substance.
20:25 Look, you know, these are what we all predicted when Roe v. Wade was overturned two years ago. That the chaos that would come about across the nation in women's ability to access their own health care decisions would be chaotic and would hurt women.
20:42 And today, as we're talking about, hurt access to all women because we are seeing OB/GYNs not going to the profession anymore or move from state to state. So women's lack of access.
20:53 I don't know the Louisiana law or what they're proposing, but obviously if people are going to... if legislatures and elected people are going to continue to try and control women's access to contraceptive, to their reproductive rights, we're going to continue to have that chaos and it means that women will be hurt.
21:12 And I'm happy... I don't know if any of the doctors are aware of the Louisiana law today, amethypristone? I'll let them answer.
21:22 Yeah, I mean, I would completely agree. Ultimately, this is not based in science and evidence. This is just another way to prevent people from accessing reproductive health care. And it does worry me that this is going to continue throughout the country, which is why legislation like this is so important.
21:43 I would add one thing. I think we all need to remember that amethypristone has been approved and used for, I think, almost two decades. It has been scientifically proved to be safe and effective and women are using it. So current attempts to limit women's access to contraception, amethypristone or anything else, are nothing but politicians trying to control a woman's life.
22:07 Have you had any conversations with Republicans about maybe IVF legislation or even some type of protection for abortion rights in any way?
22:16 We have actually gone to the floor numerous times to try and pass legislation to protect... Well, my ultimate goal is to restore Roe v. Wade, but obviously to protect doctors, to make sure that we have access to IVF, to make sure that doctors are not jailed for decisions they make that are medically appropriate, and every time we've been rejected by Republicans. Yes.
22:40 Short of enacting the Women's Health Protection Act, is there any path for Congress in ensuring that OBGYNs and residency programs have access to the full slate of OBGYN training, including in states where there are severe restrictions or bans?
22:56 Well, obviously we could put forward legislation to do that, but the ultimate way to do that is to restore Roe v. Wade. Thank you all very much and thank you to our providers who've been here today. Appreciate it.

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