Dem Women’s Caucus Members Speak Out Against House Republicans’ Empty Effort to Protect Pregnant Students’ Rights
Washington, D.C. – Today, members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC) released the following statements on House Republicans in the Education and Workforce Committee advancing the so-called Pregnant Students’ Rights Act.
Despite its name, the bill provides no new rights to pregnant students, nor does is provide pregnant students with supports like child care or affordable housing. Instead, the bill requires institutions to distribute information to students about their existing rights, but NOT information about all their options—including abortion care and contraception.
This bill is backed by prominent anti-abortion groups including the Susan B. Anthony List, Students for Life Action, and the Family Research Council.
“The intent of the Pregnant Students’ Rights Act is clear; it’s another attempt to have politicians interfere in the intensely personal decision of when and whether to have a child; a decision that should be made only by the pregnant student and their health care provider. If my colleagues want to encourage pregnancy and childbirth, I have some suggestions. Join us in making child care affordable. Join us in supporting access to affordable health care and affordable housing. Expand the Children’s Health Insurance Program. If you want to support pregnancies, then let’s join the rest of the world in offering paid family leave. Work with us to close the maternal mortality rate, which is alarmingly high and actually rising in this country, especially for women of color. Instead of working on partisan legislation that fails to address the full health care needs of students and serves as a veiled attempt to further an anti-abortion agenda, we should be working together to protect students’ bodily autonomy and support them when they are faced with deeply personal health decisions,” said Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), DWC member.
“Pregnant students, and every woman across America, deserve the fundamental right to make choices about their own bodies. However, extreme Republicans want to keep women in the dark, so they continue pushing for laws that impose restrictions on these choices and create barriers for women seeking help from healthcare professionals,” said Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM), DWC Vice Chair and member of the Education and Workforce Committee. “This anti-abortion bill aims to give one-sided information, making informed decision-making more difficult and effectively restricting access to abortion. I firmly oppose this bill and any attempt to curtail a woman’s right to choose and give women full information about pregnancy and healthcare choices. We need to keep Congress out of our doctors’ offices, universities, and rural health clinics.”
“The bill we debated in the Education and Workforce Committee today is unfortunately not a bill about protecting pregnant and parenting students or improving outcomes at all. As written, this legislation is just another thinly veiled attempt to further roll back the rights of women in this country and unduly pressure students into making serious health decisions—deeply personal health decisions—that are best left to women, their families, and their doctors. I instead encouraged my colleagues to consider legislation like my Understanding Student Parent Outcomes Act with Rep. Deborah Ross of North Carolina to study the issue and support the educational success of pregnant and parenting students. We should not leverage the very real needs of students and their children against the highly polarizing and personal topics of reproductive rights and abortion,” said Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA), DWC Chief Whip and member of the Education and Workforce Committee.
“If my Republican colleagues on the Committee are serious about ensuring that young women’s reproductive health and rights are protected, contraceptives must be a part of that conversation. Unfortunately, the bill they are pushing excludes information that would help students avoid unwanted pregnancies while demonizing women who obtain abortions,” said Congresswoman Kathy Manning (NC-06), DWC Policy Co-Chair and member of the Education and Workforce Committee. “I introduced an amendment to ensure that institutions of higher education can provide students with accurate information about sexual and reproductive health services including contraceptives, so women on campuses can make informed choices about their own bodies, pregnancies, and futures. It is astonishing to me that my Republican colleagues voted in favor of requiring colleges to provide students with information about giving birth while at college but voted against allowing colleges to provide students with information about contraception.”
“I have shared many times that I was a teenage mother and know the difficulties of navigating the education system while pregnant or having small children. I could have supported legislation that provided students with resources that I wish I had during those difficult times. Unfortunately, extreme anti-choice amendments were agreed to and productive changes like requiring open access to comprehensive reproductive health information were rejected. The final version of this bill does not support providing students with information, instead, it reveals an anti-choice agenda and is something I can no longer support,” said Congresswoman Jahana Hayes (CT-05), DWC member.
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