Reproductive Health Care Training Act of 2023

Mr. President, I rise to urge my Democratic and Republican colleagues to stand with the majority of Americans who believe a woman should have the right to choose what is best for her and her family, health, and future.

The bills we are advancing today are commonsense, straightforward measures that will ensure more women can access the safe reproductive care that they need and deserve. Our legislation will also ensure that doctors can do their jobs, get the training they need to keep their patients safe.

For 2 years, millions of women across this country have lived without full reproductive rights, while many more live in fear that their rights and freedoms could be on the chopping block. The overturning of Roe v. Wade has jeopardized Americans' lives, health, and future fertility. The Dobbs decision also forced women and their doctors to navigate a complicated and ever-changing patchwork of laws that dictate Americans' rights based on their ZIP codes.

For example, in my home State of Wisconsin, women were sent back to live under an 1849 criminal abortion ban. Judges and politicians were invited into the exam room, while lawyers told doctors how to do their jobs. And these dire impacts reached further than exam rooms; they reached into medical schools that are training our next generation of doctors.

For our top-ranked medical schools, a post-Roe reality sowed chaos as students and their instructors wondered how future doctors in our State would have access to the full slate of training necessary to safely practice obstetrics and gynecology.

The overturning of Roe put those medical schools' accreditations on the line. It opened the prospect that OB/GYNs might not be trained to provide sometimes lifesaving abortion care. No matter who you are, the idea that doctors could graduate without the proper training to do their jobs and save lives should scare all of us.

We also saw prospective students who might otherwise be attracted to our top-tier research institutions reconsider starting their careers in Wisconsin. We saw a downtick of OB/GYN residents interested in coming to our State. And while it is disheartening to say, can you blame them? Why would you want to start a career in a State that restricts you from doing your job and prevents your patients from exercising their right to control their own bodies?

That is why last year I introduced my Reproductive Health Care Training Act, commonsense legislation to support training for healthcare providers in abortion care, including for providers forced to travel out of State due to abortion restrictions.

My bill with Senator Murray would help ease the burden of travel costs for eligible medical programs to expand and support education for students, residents, and advanced practice clinicians in States that allow comprehensive training in abortion care.

Our legislation would also help ensure that medical programs accommodating an influx of students have the resources they need to provide training to students who must travel across State lines to complete their education.

The reality of post-Roe America is that there are still countless places in the United States where medical students cannot access training in comprehensive reproductive care. The Reproductive Health Care Training Act will ensure future doctors can meet the needs of their patients and provide safe care, especially in States like Wisconsin that have abortion restrictions.

Every woman, no matter where she lives, deserves access to comprehensive reproductive care. The Reproductive Health Care Training Act will ensure America's future doctors are able to provide the sometimes lifesaving care Americans deserve.

So as in legislative session, and notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged from further consideration of S. 2024, the Reproductive Health Care Training Act, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed; and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Yet again my Republican colleagues have sent a clear message to women across America. They don't think women should have the right to control their bodies.

This bill would have ensured more women could access the safe reproductive care that they need and deserve, including sometimes lifesaving abortion care.

Instead, my colleagues have turned their back on the millions of women in States where abortion is restricted. They have turned their backs on millions of women who are increasingly struggling to find OB/ GYN care in their community. They have turned their back on OB/GYN residents and students who just want to learn how to care for their patients.

Without access to training and comprehensive reproductive care for our doctors, more women in States like my own will live in healthcare deserts, without the care they need to stay healthy, start a family, and get screenings for cancer and other serious illnesses.

My Reproductive Health Care Training Act would have ensured America's future doctors have the training they need to provide safe care, especially in States that have abortion restrictions.

This fight is not over, and I am in it for as long as it takes to restore a woman's freedom to make her own decisions about her health, her family, and her future.

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, first of all, let's discuss the title of this bill: Reproductive Health Care Training Act of 2023. Why are my friends across the aisle afraid to use the word ``abortion''?

This bill has nothing to do with reproductive healthcare. This is an abortion training act of 2023. Let's just call it like it is. This is the abortion training act of 2023.

What my colleague from Wisconsin didn't say or tell you is that this bill is unconstitutional. This bill uses taxpayer dollars to fund a direct pipeline of more abortions across the Nation through the Department of Health and Human Services.

This bill establishes a program to award grants or contracts to eligible entities for the purposes of expanding and supporting abortion training and for preparing and encouraging--encouraging--preparing and encouraging students to become abortionists. It encourages efforts to train abortionists with a focus on--get this--a focus on racial and ethnic minority groups, people with disabilities, tribal, and medically underserved communities. Does this imply there is a priority to train and send abortionists to these groups?

This bill authorizes $25 million to be appropriated for this abortion training pipeline--again, against the Hyde Amendment. This is unconstitutional.

This bill has not received any type of markup in the Health Committee. The Federal Government should not be spending taxpayer dollars to encourage medical students and clinicians to take life when their principal duty, their sacred oath, is to protect life and to do no harm from conception to natural death. Therefore, I object.