Cathy McMorris Rodgers

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Johnson), who is on the leadership team in the House and a great defender for life.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. Lesko), a defender of life fighting for the right to life.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mast), a leader defending life.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, we are working on a privacy bill, but that is a separate bill. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Fulcher), a great defender of life.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cloud), who is a great defender of the human right to life.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce), who is a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Dr. John Joyce is continuing our fight for the right to life.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Aderholt), another defender of the right to life.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess), who is a great member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Florida.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, as we celebrate a record number of pro-life women serving in the United States House of Representatives today and an army of pro-life women all across this country from every corner, we are fighting for the human rights of all, especially the unborn. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Cammack), one of those mighty warriors.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), our whip and a strong defender of life.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Steube) to continue our fight for human rights for all.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield the gentlewoman an additional 1 minute.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Harshbarger), a strong defender of the right to life.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, just to clarify, not a single legislature or Congress is debating making contraception illegal. Contraception is not abortion. It prevents conception. The scare tactic about making contraception illegal is another scare tactic by the Democrats to advance a radical abortion agenda to end life up until 9 months. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas (Mrs. Flores), a new Member just elected from the great State of Texas, the first Member who was born in Mexico, and a great member of our Republican Conference.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 8297, the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act. Just like the Democrats' abortion on demand until birth act, this bill is part of an extreme agenda to nationalize abortion for all 9 months of pregnancy. Abortion is a false choice between taking care of a woman and taking care of a baby. What a woman needs is support. Every life is meaningful, and our actions are significant. Seventy-six percent of women seeking an abortion say that they would choose life if their circumstances were different. Instead of promoting ways to support women and children with better healthcare, education, financial stability, and changing their circumstances, Democrats, including President Biden, are spreading fear, anxiety, and misinformation. This is a blatant attempt to spread fear and present abortion at any stage of pregnancy as a woman's only option. So I will be very clear: It is already unconstitutional to prevent a woman from traveling between States. The pro-life movement does not support and has always rejected criminalizing and punishing women, period. State laws currently in effect have exceptions to save the life of the mother. And pro-life laws do not prevent women from getting care they need in cases of miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies. Regarding this legislation, the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act, I have many questions and concerns. Its vague language, designed to promote more abortions, undermines parental consent for minors, opens loopholes for abuse, and eliminates medical supervision for chemical abortions. This bill does nothing to explicitly prevent an unrelated adult or a sexual abuser from taking a minor out of State for an abortion without parental consent. It would prevent healthcare professionals, social workers, and schools in every State from reporting instances of child abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect because they could be seen as delaying or hindering access to abortion. It also undermines parent rights. Parents can be targeted by the Federal Government and sued for wanting to help their child just by asking them to delay traveling to get an abortion. If their child is 16, for example, the parents lose power to protect their teenager from being coerced by an older man to get an abortion. The Ensuring Access to Abortion Act undermines the health and safety of women by preempting State laws regulating the practice of medicine. It overrides the majority of States that have determined it is safest for doctors to prescribe pills for chemical abortions. This puts women and minors in danger if they experience complications. Finally, these same provisions give sexual abusers and human traffickers more direct access to chemical abortions in all 50 States and ensures that doctors in States like California, where there is no parental consent, can effectively become pill mills by prescribing and mailing abortion drugs to children and minors and end lives all over the country. This is extreme. Again, I ask my colleagues to abandon this agenda for unlimited abortions with no restrictions. It only promotes more fear, pain, and dehumanization of the most vulnerable, the helpless among us. Instead, let's come together. Let's come together around human rights of every person in this country, the born and unborn. Let's celebrate the dignity, the value, and the potential of every person. This is our chance to lead a new era of hope and healing in our country for every person, for moms and babies at every stage of life. Every life is worth living. Madam Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Arrington), who is continuing our fight for life.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close. Madam Speaker, abortion is the sharpest, most soul-searching question before us as a Nation. It pierces every heart. People have strongly held beliefs and stories, and both sides are guilty of dismissing one another. For those of us who stand for the right to life, we must do a better job of listening and loving. Fear and despair lead to more arguments, anger, discord, and insecurity. The abortion on demand bill, this bill before us today, though, is extreme. It is abortion for any reason, at any stage of pregnancy until birth. It is not the will of the American people. I recently spoke with a doctor who shared with me what is possible today. It is American technology and medical technology that allows us now to do surgeries inside the womb. I am a mom of three young kids, and anyone who has given birth knows that to be able, because of technology, to see the baby develop day by day is just amazing. Doctors are performing prenatal surgeries and treatments to save lives. This doctor was telling me they can perform a prenatal surgery on 20 different organs. That wasn't possible in 1973 when Roe v. Wade was decided. In fact, the first successful fetal surgery wasn't until 1982. Many decades later, look how far we have come. Science has evolved. It is my hope that we learn from this and that we reject abortion because it is unthinkable. It is not following the science. It doesn't reflect the latest research or modern medicine. Reject this legislation. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. Lesko), a strong defender of life, who is on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Mrs. Fischbach), another defender of life.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Pfluger), a defender of life.

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cline), another defender of life.