Rep. Johnson Honors International Women’s Day

WASHINGTON, March 11 -- Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, issued the following speech, which was published in the Congressional Record on March 8, honoring International Women's Day:

Mr. Speaker, I rise in honor of International Women's Day. While there are many issues that women face, including equal pay for equal work, affordable child care, access to affordable and quality healthcare, paid family leave, and the general rights of women of color and lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women, I would like to focus today on reproductive rights.

Roe v. Wade became the law of the land in 1973 when the Supreme Court of the United States deemed abortion to be a fundamental right. In recent years, that fundamental right to make a private choice about one's own body has been challenged by legislation and in the court system. Anti-choice legislation that places a ban on abortion care after a certain number of weeks of pregnancy, challenges to the contraception mandate in the Affordable Care Act, and most recently, passing a Congressional Review Act regarding changes to the Title X program are just a few of the tactics the House Republicans have used to undermine reproductive care for women in this country.

Along with reproductive care, we must educate our youth about sexual health. Instead of using evidence-based sexual education programs, many Republicans have instead advocated for abstinence-only education. These programs promote the false notion that "sexual risk avoidance education" is effective, but they are harmful and stigmatizing. Young people deserve real information about sexual health and well-being. Research shows that when young people have the necessary information about contraception as well as abstinence, they will delay initiation, reduce sexual activity, and increase use of condoms and contraception while seeing a reduction in unintended pregnancy and STD rates. Sexual health and education and reproductive health go hand-in-hand, but the GOP continues to ignore the evidence and add unnecessary barriers which ultimately increase rates of unintended pregnancy and decrease access to family planning care.

Within days of his inauguration, President Trump signed an executive order enacting the Global Gag Rule, which forces any foreign organization that receives U.S. foreign aid dollars to certify that they do not use their own funds to pay for abortion services, counsel patients about the option of abortion, or advocate for the liberalization of abortion laws. This policy is a change and an expansion from previous law which has banned U.S. foreign aid dollars from being used for abortion related activities since 1973. Advocates have called this new policy the "Global Gage Rule on steroids." This expansion delivers a devastating blow to NGOs and is dangerous for reproductive health internationally.

At a time when the current administration seems to be more against women than with us, we must stand up for ourselves. We must continue to bring forward evidence-based and sensible policies that are good for women and good for our population. Whether we are discussing reproductive health, economic equality, civil rights, or the many other issues that women face, we must face them together.

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