ICYMI: Murray Leads Senate Democrats in Pushing Commonsense Bills to Protect Women’s Fundamental Freedoms; Speaks on Senate Floor About Dobbs Fallout – MORE HERE
Pullman Planned Parenthood clinic has seen a 47 percent jump in patients since the Dobbs decision; Planned Parenthood Greater Washington and Northern Idaho has seen a 20 percent increase in patients overall
Senator Murray: “As long as I’m in DC, I’m going to keep fighting as hard as I can and at every single opportunity to protect abortion access from Republicans’ continued attacks, introduce new legislation that will help women and providers, and get the votes to reinstate Roe so we can guarantee that every woman in every state has the right to make her own health care decisions.”
***PHOTOS AND B-ROLL OF THE EVENT HERE***
Pullman, WA – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), hosted a roundtable on women’s reproductive health and the challenges facing providers in East Washington in the post-Dobbs landscape. Senator Murray met with providers and staff from Planned Parenthood Greater Washington and Northern Idaho, as well as staff from WSU’s Women’s Center and a student from the University of Idaho. In the year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, clinics in Eastern Washington have seen a more than 20 percent jump in patients, many of them from neighboring Idaho, which now has one of the strictest abortion bans in the nation. The Planned Parenthood clinic in Pullman alone has seen a 47 percent increase in patients over the last year.
At the roundtable, Murray heard from providers about the challenges they are facing and the federal support that would help, and spoke about her continued fight to reinstate Roe and protect women’s reproductive health care at every possible opportunity from Republican attacks—including as she works to write and pass the nation’s government funding bills.
“Since the Dobbs decision, 14 states, including Idaho, have passed total bans on abortions, and more than a dozen other states have severely limited abortion access or had their abortion bans blocked in court. This is not just harming people in other states—women and providers in Washington state are also really suffering the consequences,” said Senator Murray. “That’s why I’m here: to get a better sense of what you’re seeing and hearing on the ground, so I can take that back with me as I keep up the fight for women’s health care freedom in the other Washington. As long as I’m in DC, I’m going to keep fighting as hard as I can and at every single opportunity to protect abortion access from Republicans’ continued attacks, introduce new legislation that will help women and providers, and get the votes to reinstate Roe so we can guarantee that every woman in every state has the right to make her own health care decisions.”
“We want to thank Senator Patty Murray for meeting us here at the Washington-Idaho border at our Pullman health center where some of the greatest disparities in abortion access currently exist,” said Lindsay Johnson, Chief External Affairs Officer at Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho. “Our health center staff are delivering care to people every day who are experiencing the fear, chaos and confusion caused by the ban on abortion in Idaho. It is more important than ever that we continue being there for local patients and those forced to travel outside of their communities for the care they need and deserve. We are grateful to Senator Murray for being a champion for reproductive health and rights in Washington and nationwide.”
Senator Murray is a longtime leader in the fight to protect and expand access to reproductive health care and abortion rights, and since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, she has led Congressional efforts to fight back. Murray led her colleagues at the very outset of this Congress to make crystal clear that Senate Democrats are continuing to fight to protect every American’s reproductive rights and will be a firewall against Republicans’ continued attacks on women’s rights—and that’s exactly what she’s doing now. Murray has introduced more than a dozen pieces of legislation to protect reproductive rights from further attacks, protect providers, and help ensure women get the care they need; she also co-led introduction of the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would restore the right to abortion nationwide.
Ahead of the one year anniversary of the Dobbs decision, Senator Murray led Senate Democrats in seeking unanimous consent on the Senate floor for four common-sense bills to protect women’s fundamental freedoms. After Senate Republicans blocked every single bill, Senator Murray spoke on the Senate floor about the health care crisis Republicans have created, and how Senate Democrats are standing with Americans across the country to fight back.
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