TRANSCRIPT: Majority Leader Schumer Delivers Remarks At Press Conference On Republican Abortion Bans Harming Health Care Providers And Worsening Access to Care

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke at a news conference in the Senate Swamp to discuss how Republican abortion bans are hurting health care providers and worsening access to care for millions of people.  Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

“I want to thank Senator Murray for hosting today's presser, and my colleagues, Senator Baldwin and Kelly, for continuing to stand up to Republican attacks on reproductive health care. They've been great, great advocates and also ferocious. I also want to thank doctor McDonald Mosley, Doctor Belmonte, Karen Stone, and all of Planned Parenthood. You're on the front lines of this fight. So thank you for being with us.

“Now, why are we here? Because two, nearly two years ago, a woman's right to privacy and autonomy was upended by the Supreme Court when it overturned Roe.

“This tragic, alarming, outrageous decision didn't happen in a vacuum. As we all know, far right Republicans have been working systematically to dismantle a woman's fundamental right to choose, and they've been working at it for decades.

“The most extreme elements of the Republican Party have made clear their mission to eliminate this freedom of choice. And we can't forget that Donald Trump said just a few weeks ago that he was ‘proud’ to be the person who paved the way to overturn Roe. Make no mistake, he'll be at it again if, God forbid, he becomes President. So that was the word President Trump used, ‘proud.’ He's not even hiding it. So with the Dobbs decision, they opened the floodgates for draconian and cruel bans on women's choice all across America.

“Republican abortion bans around the country have done irreparable harm. They have put hard-right Republican politicians in charge of women's personal health care decisions. Who the heck are they to tell a woman what she should do with their body? And they've thrown our nation's health care providers into chaos, forcing providers to leave their states, to shut down their practices, limiting providers’ ability to provide evidence-based care and making them turn away patients in distress. Young doctors are now deciding where to train, and for the second year, there's a stark decrease in providers choosing programs in states with abortion bans. We hear these stories all the time. I just heard last week about a young doctor who left his home state of Oklahoma to come to New York to begin his OB-GYN presence at our state university system.

“Now, in New York, we passed shield laws that provide legal protections for New York doctors to prescribe and send abortion bills to patients in states that have outlawed abortion. And this just isn't just OB-GYNs. It's all kinds of providers, people who can't imagine starting or growing their families in states where necessary health care options are, simply put, criminalized. It's cruel. It's utter chaos for patients and doctors. It goes against the very idea of ‘do no harm.’

“So today we're here to say loud and clear, Democrats stand with women, and with our nation's health care providers.

“We will never, ever stop fighting against these Republican attacks. We will never, ever stop fighting to take back these rights from the far-right extremists who want to impose their views on the country that overwhelmingly do not agree with them.

“Democrats cannot and will not simply accept a new status quo. When the MAGA Supreme Court signaled the end of Roe and declared there was no constitutional right to an abortion, it meant our children will grow up in a world with fewer liberties than previous generations.

“The effect was instantaneous and devastating. One in three women in America lost access to abortion, and we know this has a disproportionate effect on certain Americans more than others. Rural and low-income Americans, people of color, members of the LGBTQ community, particularly the trans community and black Americans.

“The far-right has shown that they actually want to force their will on the entirety of this country. We all know they won't stop until they've enacted a federal abortion ban. They will not stop, America, until they get a federal abortion ban. So join with us.

“The American people have told us time and time again they reject this MAGA agenda. They have voted against it at the ballot box in midterms, marched in support for access by the thousands. They've rallied time and time again in support of access to abortion as more cases wind their way through the courts. And there are cases now in Texas, Idaho, New Mexico, to name a few.

“There are cases coming up before the Supreme Court looking at access to mifepristone and a hospital's obligation to provide lifesaving emergency care. Every day the legal landscape gets more complicated. It's leaving women in health care providers in the lurch.

“So Democrats will not stop fighting tooth and nail to stop that from happening. We will not relent. We will not give up. We know deeply in our hearts, history is on our side, and we're determined to preserve the precious rights that are the bedrock of America.”

###