Patty Murray: Reconciliation Bill Would Be 'Nightmare' That Strips Abortion Access

At a Senate Democratic press briefing, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) warned that the Big Beautiful Bill will cut abortion access across the U.S.

Transcript

00:00It's being nice.

00:02Well, good morning.

00:04And, yeah, come on up here, Tammy.

00:06Well, you know, there is a lot to be mad about in the Republicans' big, ugly betrayal bill,

00:11and I want to make sure one hugely important issue does not get missed,

00:18because I've come to know by now there is not a day that ends in Y

00:22where Republicans are not trying to ban abortion here in Congress.

00:28Republicans just can't help themselves.

00:30If they can find a way to attack abortion care, they do it.

00:34And wouldn't you know it, they snuck what essentially amounts to a backdoor abortion ban

00:40into the health provisions of this big, ugly betrayal.

00:45That's right.

00:46Not only does the Republican monstrosity of a bill make health care more expensive and harder to get,

00:53they are also trying to stop health plans from covering abortion altogether.

00:59This bill would effectively ban health insurance on the ACA marketplaces from covering abortion.

01:07This would send a shockwave through the country and put abortion care out of reach for women.

01:14It would be a nightmare for states like mine that require plans to cover abortion,

01:19and it would be yet another blow for women across the country.

01:23As abortion access gets pushed further and further out of reach by right-wing politicians

01:29who think they should get to make deeply personal decisions about women's health and their lives.

01:36And the attacks don't stop there,

01:38because Republicans want to shut the doors of one of the biggest health care providers in our country.

01:44They want to defund Planned Parenthood.

01:47That is wildly unpopular with the American people,

01:51and it is wildly dangerous for patients who turn to Planned Parenthood for a very wide spectrum of care,

01:59including cancer screenings and pap smears and birth control.

02:04And if it were successful, Republicans would be closing the doors to 200 health centers,

02:10and that includes cutting the number of Planned Parenthood health centers in states with abortion access by half

02:18and stripping away people's access to abortion and other reproductive health care.

02:23It is hard to understand how devastating that would be.

02:28We are talking clinics shuttering across the country, overwhelmingly in states where abortion is legal.

02:36We are talking women left with no options for the care that they need.

02:42It doesn't matter if you are a rape survivor or if you have a medical emergency

02:47or if you simply don't want to become a parent.

02:51Whatever your reason, whatever state you are in,

02:54if Republicans get their way, abortion care will be a lot more expensive and a lot less accessible.

03:00For some patients, it will be simply impossible to get the care they need regardless of how badly they need it.

03:08We have already seen with painful clarity how dangerous abortion bans can be for patients.

03:16We have already seen patients pushed to the brink and even killed because they could not get the care they needed.

03:23And now Republicans are about to mark the anniversary of the Dobbs decision by taking their extremism to new heights.

03:33We are not going to be silent about this big, ugly betrayal, including what it means for reproductive rights.

03:40We're not going to be silent about Republicans' backdoor efforts to ban abortion nationwide.

03:46And we're not going to stop pushing back to make sure this bill goes nowhere except the garbage bin.