Congresswoman Judy Chu | Congresswoman Judy Chu Official website
Congresswoman Judy Chu | Congresswoman Judy Chu Official website
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On April 28, Rep. Judy Chu (CA-28) joined the Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC) and Reps. Lois Frankel (FL-22), Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07), and Barbara Lee (CA-12) held a shadow hearing, “Fighting for Bodily Autonomy: The State of a Post-Roe America,” to examine the impacts of the Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade. Despite the vast, disastrous impacts of the Dobbs decision, no House Republican-led Committee has held a hearing on the state of a post-Roe America.
The hearing included expert testimony from Dr. Kristyn Brandi, Chair of Physicians for Reproductive Health, Quita Tinsley Peterson, Director of Strategic Partnerships of the Liberate Abortion Campaign, Elisabeth Smith, Director, State Policy and Advocacy for the Center for Reproductive Rights, Stephanie Loraine Pineiro, Executive Director of the Florida Access Network, and Dr. Raegan McDonald-Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide.
“Despite the huge, devastating impacts of the Dobbs decision, no House Republican-led Committee has held a hearing on the state of a post-Roe America. But it’s clear to us that we cannot ignore the health care crisis unfolding across America. And that’s why the Democratic Women’s Caucus is hosting this shadow hearing today,” said DWC Chair Lois Frankel in her opening remarks. “Because women, not politicians, must be in charge of the personal decision if and when to start or grow a family.”
“I just want to reiterate the commitment of House Democrats to pass my bill, H.R. 12, the Women’s Health Protection Act, which will enshrine abortion rights at the federal level and ensure that no state can chip away at that right, as we are seeing now in a post-Dobbs world,” said Rep. Chu in her opening remarks.
“In my home state of Texas and in several other states, legislatures have effectively eliminated access to abortion,” said Rep. Fletcher in her opening remarks. “It is critical that we continue to highlight the real dangers that these anti-abortion laws have caused for women and families and that we do everything we can to preserve, protect, and restore the freedom for Americans to make their own decisions about their bodies, their families and their futures.”
Since the Dobbs decision came down, Republicans in states across the country have banned abortion, threatened access to birth control and IVF, and gone after the right to travel across state lines for abortion care. The health impacts of state abortion bans are steep, with data showing they lead to higher maternal and infant mortality, limit medications for patients with chronic conditions, and cause outsize harm
for people of color.
At least seventeen other Democratic House Members joined the shadow hearing, with Rep. Frederica Wilson (FL-24) sharing her personal experiences with lacking access to reproductive health care and Chair Pete Aguilar (CA-33) and Rep. Kathy Castor (FL-14) detailing stories from their Districts about the impacts of Dobbs. Also in attendance were: Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), Rep. Lucy McBath (GA-07), Rep. Jill Tokuda (HI-02), Rep. Brad Schneider (IL-10), Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Rep. Troy Carter (LA-02), Rep. Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (NM-03), Rep. Dan Goldman (NY-10), Rep. Kathy Manning (NC-06), Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), and Rep. Greg Casar (TX-35).
Additional testimony from the witnesses includes:
Abortions bans directly impact and harm patient care:
- Elisabeth Smith: “Currently, abortion is criminalized in 13 states and unavailable in 1 more. The situation for pregnant people, women, children, and families in the Illegal states is intolerable. … Abortion bans are causing serious harms to all pregnant people due to the chilling effect they have on the provision of standard abortion care in states that have criminalized abortion.”
- Dr. Raegan McDonald-Mosely: “14 states now lack a single clinic offering abortion care, and 19 states have eliminated all or some abortions, and more are passing bans and restrictions as I speak. My colleagues and I treat patients from those states more and more often. And we know that there are so many more who face insurmountable barriers and do not have the resources to travel to us for care.”
- Dr. Raegan McDonald-Mosely: “We are currently facing an abortion access crisis, a maternal mortality crisis, and also a contraceptive access crisis in this country.”
- Dr. Krystin Brandi: “After the Dobbs decision, there were over thirty-two thousand less abortions happening in the US. [A study] showed drastic drops in care since the Dobbs decision, echoing the stories we’ve heard in the news from so many that were denied essential health care. The study also showed states that had overwhelming spikes of people accessing care in their states, and that these states could not keep up with the demand. The picture is about to get bleaker as people in states such as North Carolina and Florida, which have been destinations for many in the South, may soon see abortion severely limited.”
- Quita Tinsley Peterson: “Anti-abortion policies are not philosophical or ideological debates. While politicians use them as bargaining chips to bolster their political careers, it is people - their constituents- who are caught in the fray having to navigate the nightmare of these laws.”
- Stephanie Loraine Pineiro: “People who are contacting abortion funds for support are afraid and confused because of the rapidly changing laws. We are there to explain these changes as they happen and dispel harmful abortion stigma. Anti-abortion policies are fueled by stigma and misinformation designed to shame abortion providers and people who need abortions into silence.”
- Dr. Raegan McDonald-Mosely: “Power to Decide built our comprehensive database of abortion providers, AbortionFinder.org, to help people navigate this chaotic landscape of abortion access. … They are now some of the most popular pages on our site —evidence that the web of chaos is confusing people about their options. Indeed, this chaos and confusion is the point. When people don’t know where or how to access abortion care or get overwhelmed with the amount of hurdles they have to surmount, many are simply forced to remain pregnant even though they know it is not the right time or circumstance for them to have a child.”
- Dr. Krystin Brandi: “Waiting for each court decision further exacerbated the chaos and confusion that already exists around reproductive health care right now – and that fear and uncertainty is the goal.”
- Dr. Raegan McDonald-Mosely: “The harms of abortion bans and restrictions disproportionately impact those already harmed by systemic barriers, especially communities of color, people with lower incomes, and rural communities. It also impacts young people, who in addition to whatever social, economic, and geographical challenges they may be facing must also navigate this web of bans with additional parental notification requirements, arbitrary judicial bypass decisions, and restrictions on their ability to leave the state in which they reside.”
- Dr. Krystin Brandi: “Our worsening maternal mortality crisis, which disproportionately impacts Black women and birthing people, will be exacerbated by abortion bans.”
- Quita Tinsley Peterson: “We all deserve to be met with the proper resources, accurate information, and compassion when seeking care. However, we know this is not the reality for so many people seeking abortions, who are instead met with financial and logistical hurdles, stigmatizing anti-abortion rhetoric, and a shrinking network of providers available to them. These folks, who are often Black or other people of color, must remain at the center of these conversations on abortion.”
- Stephanie Loraine Pinero: “People of Color, Black people, Indigenous people, people who have low incomes, LGBTQ people, young folks and those living in rural communities are all people who are left behind by public policy that fails to adequately address the affordable housing crisis, food insecurity, institutional racism, Medicaid expansion, and homophobia and transphobia.”
- Elisabeth Smith: “Despite anti-abortion advocates’ claim that abortion should just be “left to the states to regulate” … anti-abortion advocates continue to push for national restrictions on abortion access. A few short months after the Court’s Dobbs ruling, the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine sued the US Food and Drug Administration over its approval of mifepristone in order to remove mifepristone from the market nationwide. Earlier this month, the Northern District of Texas issued a radical order staying the approval of mifepristone, which was largely upheld by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, forcing the government to file for emergency relief from the Supreme Court in order to protect patients and providers.”
- Dr. Raegan McDonald-Mosely: “Despite the best efforts of Congressional champions—many of you here today—the Title X Family Planning Program has been flat-funded for nine years.”
Issues: Women's Rights
Original source can be found here.
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