Post by bot on Jan 9, 2016 16:35:55 GMT -5
Hoyer Statement on Amicus Brief on Reproductive Rights Before the Supreme Court
WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement on an amicus brief filed today urging the Supreme Court to continue to safeguard women's constitutional right to reproductive health care options:
“I was proud to join an amicus brief filed in the Supreme Court today by 157 Democratic Members of the House and Senate urging the justices to continue safeguarding women’s constitutional right to reproductive health care options, as enshrined by the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. As the Court prepares to hear arguments in a case brought against the Texas Department of State Health Services for forcing the effective closure of most of that state’s reproductive health clinics, denying millions of Texas women the ability to seek care without traveling out of state, it is our view that efforts to chip away at women’s constitutional right to reproductive health care must be rejected. Every woman in America deserves to make her own health care choices and have access to quality care where she lives. We must not go back to a dark time in our history when women were forced to turn to unlicensed practitioners working in unsafe conditions because they could not access reproductive care without having to travel hundreds of miles or cross international borders.
“This case comes as Republicans in Congress continue to waste the American taxpayers’ time and money trying to make it harder for women to access quality health care. They have tried to make women’s health care choices subject to the whims of politicians and even employers. Furthermore, they have launched a select committee solely devoted to demagoguing Planned Parenthood and effecting a political witch-hunt against those working hard to ensure that women can always make their own health care decisions. I will continue to defend women’s right to access the full range of reproductive health services and urge the Supreme Court to put to rest any question about the constitutional protections afforded to women in this country.”
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