On Senate Floor, Shaheen Calls out President Trump and Republican Leadership in Congress for their “dangerous obsession with rolling back women’s reproductive rights”
**Marking the 44th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade this past Sunday, Shaheen said “we will not be dragged backward”**
**SHAHEEN: “We can’t allow extreme ideology to triumph over the urgent, practical needs of women and families across the world.”**
(Washington, DC) — U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) spoke on the Senate Floor today to recognize the 44th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision and to support women’s reproductive rights in the U.S. and around the world. In her speech, Shaheen spoke of the Women’s Unity Rally she attended in Concord, NH on Saturday, January 21, and the marches attended by millions of women and men in the U.S. and across the globe to “defend this constitutional right as well as critical gains for women in recent years.” Shaheen continued, “We will not be dragged backward.”
Shaheen drew attention to one of President Trump’s first actions in office yesterday to reinstate the Global Gag Rule, also known as the Mexico City Policy, stating the new administration “has joined with Republican leaders in Congress in pledging a much broader assault on women’s rights and the gains women have made in recent years.” Today, Sens. Shaheen and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced the bipartisan Global Health, Empowerment, and Rights (HER) Act, which would permanently repeal the harmful Global Gag Rule.
In her speech, Shaheen also focused on Republican efforts in Congress to defund Planned Parenthood and repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would end the law’s ban on discrimination in health insurance, reverse women’s access to contraception without cost sharing and end significant access to preventive health services such as mammograms and cervical cancer screenings without cost sharing. Shaheen also mentioned reports that the Trump Administration plans to eliminate the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women, which distributes grants to prevent domestic violence, sexual assault, and other forms of violence against women.
“Mr. President, taken together, these actions amount to more than a dangerous obsession with rolling back women’s reproductive rights,” said Shaheen. “They amount to an assault on the safety and well-being of women and girls in the United States and across the globe. This is exactly what millions of women and men were protesting against on Saturday. People are not just concerned; they are frightened. And, unfortunately, with very good reason. As those of us who gathered and marched on Saturday made very clear, we are not going to stand still for this assault on our rights and gains. We are not going backward.”
Shaheen concluded, “Millions of Americans joined together on Saturday, peacefully and passionately, to urge Congress to make the right choice, to protect women’s constitutional rights, to protect our access to healthcare. I urge my Senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle to listen to those voices.”
