Shaheen Warns Against Latest GOP Effort to Restrict Access to Reproductive Health Care

(Washington, DC) – Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) took to the Senate floor alongside her Democratic colleagues, to oppose Senate Republicans’ latest effort to restrict access to reproductive health care. Instead of focusing on lowering costs for working Americans, Republicans are pushing for a bill, the Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act, that would significantly interfere with the doctor-patient relationship and pose unnecessary and harmful obstacles to a woman’s right to make her own decisions about her reproductive health. You can watch the Senator’s full remarks here.

Key quotes from Senator Shaheen:

• “This legislation has one purpose, and that's to make safe abortion services even more inaccessible by intimidating doctors with the threat of criminal liability.”

• “This is fearmongering at its finest, and by choosing to focus on this bill—during President Trump's first week in office—some Republicans...are choosing to politicize a family's trauma, instead of focusing on making life easier, more affordable and better for all Americans.”

• “We know that banning abortions doesn't actually stop them. You just make them more dangerous for women. Enough is enough.”

Remarks as delivered can be found below.

I'm pleased to join my colleagues today because I strongly oppose this legislation.

I oppose it because it would significantly interfere with the doctor-patient relationship, and I oppose it because it would pose unnecessary and harmful obstacles to a woman's right—to all women's right—to make our own decisions about our own reproductive health.

This legislation has one purpose, and that's to make safe abortion services even more inaccessible by intimidating doctors with the threat of criminal liability.

This is fearmongering at its finest, and by choosing to focus on this bill—during President Trump's first week in office—some Republicans, and I say some because they don't all support this bill, are choosing to politicize a family's trauma, instead of focusing on making life easier, more affordable and better for all Americans, which President Trump promised when he was campaigning when he said he wasn't interested in a federal law that would outlaw abortions.

Abortions performed later in pregnancy are rare, and they are done as the result of fatal diagnoses for the fetus, the mother or both.

These are tragic, heartbreaking situations that no one—I'm going to repeat that: that no one—wants.

And by inserting new uncertainty and risk of criminal liability into the process, this legislation only further increases the risk that a woman will not be able to get the medical care that she needs.

This bill ignores these important realities in hopes of scoring political points with anti-choice factions.

And the timing is done deliberately because many of those groups are going to be here in Washington on Friday.

So we should see this bill for what it is: It's a political stunt.

Again and again, at every turn, some Republicans and the Trump administration have pushed forward dangerous policies intended to threaten access to abortion care.

I think it's just shameful—they should be ashamed of themselves.

This bill is just another battle in a long line of attacks in the ongoing war on women's health.

Now more than ever, we need to stand up and defend women's health care—make certain that abortions are safe and legal.

And we know that banning abortions doesn't actually stop them. You just make them more dangerous for women.

Enough is enough.

I urge my colleagues to oppose this legislation and its consideration on the Senate floor.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Shaheen has long been an advocate for expanding and protecting access to reproductive health care. In 2020, Shaheen voted against an earlier version of the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and condemned Republican efforts to rescind women’s reproductive rights. As New Hampshire’s governor, Shaheen repealed an outdated state law that deemed abortion a felony in New Hampshire. In the wake of the disastrous Dobbs Supreme Court decision, Shaheen has worked to protect and expand access to reproductive care including speaking out against repeat Republican failures to protect access to invitro-fertilization (IVF) and contraception.

In the fiscal year (FY) 2025 Senate-passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Shaheen secured an historic amendment to require that all women who receive health care through the military have access to FDA-approved contraception without insurance co-pays. This brings TRICARE in line with civilian health plans, eliminating an undue financial burden for women and dependents in the military. The Shaheen amendment also requires the Department of Defense to develop a comprehensive family planning education program for service members to ensure families can make informed decisions about their future. Further, the Shaheen amendment guarantees that survivors of sexual assault in the military have access to emergency contraception. After overcoming more than a decade of obstruction on this amendment, the Shaheen provision was adopted on a bipartisan vote and will go into effect immediately.