Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, 4 years ago today, women in America lost the right to control their own bodies when an activist Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. For 18 months, women in Wisconsin were forced to live under a law passed in 1849 and widely viewed as a criminal abortion ban.

Overturning Roe was just the beginning of the Republicans' war on women's reproductive rights. This bill is yet another example of their agenda to make it harder for women to access care by stripping away funding for family planning clinics.

Title X clinics serve millions of Americans and offer cancer screenings, birth control, and wellness exams. Republicans have already tried to rip this healthcare away. Their ``Big Ugly Bill'' last year defunded Planned Parenthood, leading to the closure of 60 clinics so far. And we expect that as a result of the ``Big Ugly Bill,'' in total, over 200 clinics will ultimately close. That is 200 fewer places that women can get essential healthcare, exacerbating an already dire healthcare crisis that families are facing.

This administration has also withheld funding from title X clinics for months, threatening access to care for more than 800,000 people. They then delayed funding for the program again, causing even more confusion.

The administration's goals are clear: They want to sow chaos and end access to reproductive health care. There is no reason that we, the people's branch, should be adding to that and further making life harder for the people we work for. We should be focused on expanding access to healthcare and lowering the cost of it, not closing more clinics, jacking up costs, and eroding women's rights even further.

I will not stop fighting until every woman in this country has the freedom to make her own choices about her own body.

Therefore, I object.

Mr. President, today is the fourth anniversary of the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

I just shared some reflections about what happened in my home State of Wisconsin when we reverted to a law that was passed in 1849--1 year after Wisconsin's statehood--that was widely viewed as a criminal abortion ban. No abortion care was provided within my State until a court ultimately ruled many months later that that 1849 statute did not apply, but in the meantime, I heard stories from Wisconsin women whose lives were upended by the Dobbs ruling.

When I think about one of the first stories I heard in those first months after the Dobbs decision came down, I remember a woman sharing with me that she was pregnant, expecting--was delighted about that-- when her water broke at 17 weeks. She went to her doctor at the hospital where she was planning to deliver her baby, and they said: Your baby has no chance of survival, and we can't do anything to assist you in this moment because Roe v. Wade has been overturned.

The doctors consulted lawyers. We had lawyers actually practicing medicine, if you will, in the State of Wisconsin at that time, and she was sent home. They said to let nature take its course. Well, in her case, that meant facing sepsis and a fever that got worse and worse and worse.

How close do you have to be to death before you can get the healthcare that you need when Roe v. Wade is no longer the law of the land?

What it drove people in Wisconsin to have to do is consider getting care out of State.

So, today, I rise in support of the women across this country who just want to be able to control their own bodies. Right now, 27 million women are living under abortion bans since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and it is no secret that my Republican colleagues want to see a national abortion ban enacted piece by piece. Because of these bans, women are literally bleeding out in parking lots outside of clinics and hospitals. Women are developing life-threatening infections like the one I just described from my constituent in Wisconsin.

Women are being told that they have pregnancies that are not viable but that they have no option for healthcare. Women are being denied the care that they need even in States like Wisconsin where, because of our courts striking down the 1849 statute that was in existence when the Dobbs decision came out, abortion is now legal, though many restrictions remain on the books.

Women face access issues. They face barriers to accessing the healthcare they need. In Wisconsin, abortion services are only available in 3 out of our 72 counties. That leaves 69 counties without care, meaning the people who live there must travel for the care they need. They have to arrange childcare and take time off work and sometimes drive for hours. They have to face unnecessary barriers just to get the healthcare that they need.

That is why I introduced the Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act. This legislation would help ease the financial burdens that too many women face when they are trying to access safe and legal reproductive healthcare, oftentimes far away from their homes and their support systems. This bill would get women the practical support they need to access care, including support for travel, childcare, lodging, meals, and more.

I won't stop fighting until a woman's right to choose is fully restored. In the meantime, the least we can do is help women access the care they need that the Supreme Court and some of my Republican colleagues continue to put further out of reach for women. I urge my colleagues to address the healthcare crisis we are facing in this country by reducing the barriers that women face to get the healthcare they need.

Therefore, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 4922, introduced earlier today; further, that the bill be considered read three times and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, as if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged and the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 4329. Further, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, you know, it is always so interesting to hear the objections of my colleagues when it comes to something that is considered a pro-life measure. And pushing this bill forward and listening to my colleague--it just shows me that once again, they are not standing with that right to life.

We are celebrating 250 years of our great Nation. What do we have? That

right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Today marks 4 years since the Supreme Court corrected a blatant act of judicial activism that legitimized the killing of more than 63 million unborn children.

My colleagues across the aisle like to say: Oh, but abortion is compassionate.

Think about the 63 million unborn babies--63 million.

So, yes, 4 years ago, the Supreme Court corrected this act of judicial activism. With the Court's Dobbs decision, the authority finally returned to the States and ``we the people,'' where it belongs.

This marked a watershed moment in the fight for life, but there is still so much more work to do to make certain that right is recognized, that right to life--the right to life, to liberty, to the pursuit of happiness.

We know that one thing that needs to be done is ending all Federal funding of abortion services. That is important. This isn't about closing clinics; this is about making certain that taxpayer money does not go to fund those services.

For decades, Federal law has prohibited the use of Federal funds for abortions, but big abortion providers like Planned Parenthood exploit every loophole possible to get around this restriction. It is a long list. They are addicted to your money to provide abortion services.

One of those loopholes is the title X Family Planning Program. This program is intended to assist low-income women with family planning services. Section 1008 of the Public Health Service Act explicitly states that title X funds ``shall not be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning.'' That is the law.

This isn't about restricting healthcare; it is about--we need to support life, and we need to abide by the law.

Yet, under the law, title X clinics are allowed to refer patients for abortions and share facilities with abortion providers. As a result, Planned Parenthood clinics that receive Federal family planning funds can share the same facility, staff, and waiting room as an abortion clinic. There is no division there. They are sharing that space. They are sharing staff. They are sharing the waiting room. You go in the same door, and they are thereby using taxpayer dollars.

Now, taxpayers, including millions across the country who hold deeply held beliefs opposing abortion, should not have to spend a penny in supporting abortion providers. This is their hard-earned money. We have a law. The law should be abided by. That is why I am asking that we move forward with this bill. We have heard my colleague's objection. I disagree with her. We should abide by the rule of law, and we should support the right to life. I think everyone should stand up and close this loophole once and for all.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I object.

We just talked about the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, which would ensure that taxpayer funds aren't used or flow--these family planning funds--to abortion providers.

What Senator Baldwin has talked about in this bill is the Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act, and what it would do is make obtaining abortions easier. It would make it easier because it would allow them to be paid for by tax dollars. Let's let this sink in for a minute. This bill would authorize hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to fund, as my colleague said, the travel, the lodging, the meals, the childcare, and all of the other expenses that are associated with obtaining an abortion. Four years after Dobbs rightfully returned this issue to the American people and their elected representatives, this very legislation would undermine that decision by using Federal dollars to facilitate and fund abortions across State lines.

Now, we all want healthy moms and healthy babies--that is a goal that everyone shares--but instead of supporting pregnant women by making grants available to pregnancy resource centers, our colleagues across the aisle would rather spend that $350 million in taxpayer funding each year to eliminate what makes obtaining an abortion

inconvenient. That is absolutely atrocious. Democrats claim to be the party of choice, but bankrolling the entire abortion process only increases the pressure on women to choose abortion by making it the more financially feasible option. There is no choice in that. A 2004 study found 64 percent of women felt pressured by others to have an abortion.

If Congress truly wants to respect the conscience rights of millions of Americans and actually protect women, children, and families, it should reject this legislation and pass the Title X Abortion Provider Protection Act.

For all of these reasons, I object.