Today, August 26, we celebrate Women's Equality Day - a day to commemorate the 1920 ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote. As the father of two daughters, the ongoing struggle for women's equality is very personal for me. That's why it has been an honor during my time in Congress to support women's rights by advocating for reproductive rights, equal pay, access to paid maternity leave and quality child care. While all of these issues are critical, I've been an especially outspoken defender of women's reproductive health and rights.
The U.S. Constitution guarantees women across this country, including my daughters, the right to choose for themselves when and how to start their families. Yet, more than forty years after Roe v. Wade, women's reproductive rights remain in jeopardy. A Supreme Court ruling is supposed to provide clarity to contentious legal issues, but in the case of reproductive rights, it was just the beginning of a long, heated and grueling debate. In the four decades since the landmark ruling, pro-choice advocates have been forced to play defense, as anti-choice state legislatures and members of Congress find every possible way to chip away at a woman's right to choose.
Since November 2010, state legislatures have passed more than 280 anti-abortion bills, accounting for a quarter of state anti-choice laws enacted since the Roe v. Wade decision. In some states, women are subjected to onerous and unnecessary waiting periods before they are able to access abortion services. In others, conservative legislatures are restricting abortion access by relying on bogus "science" to ban services after 20 weeks of pregnancy. And in even more states, cumbersome and unreasonable regulations are forcing clinics to shut down and women to seek care hours away from home and across state lines.
Let's face it, when it comes to denying access to abortion care and reproductive rights, especially for low-income women with limited resources, there's no limit to how far some are willing to go. And it is not just in the state legislatures. In Congress, anti-choice policymakers have actively targeted low-income women through the Hyde Amendment, preventing federal funds from being used for abortion services, including for the nine million women enrolled in Medicaid, a program specifically designed to aid Americans with limited means.
The fact that this restriction discriminates against women with limited resources at the very time in which they need support the most is morally unconscionable. And it forces them to seek the cheapest care possible which, in many cases, is both dangerous and poorly regulated. Is that really what we want? I can't imagine so.
More than forty years after Roe, there is still a long road ahead for reproductive rights and the bottom-line is: we have to take action now. When it comes to protecting women's rights, we have to go on offense and vigorously reject efforts that prevent women from making their own reproductive health decisions. In Congress, it's critical that policymakers do everything in our power to ensure that all women, regardless of economic status, have access to affordable and safe reproductive care. In America, the rights of our daughters and the rights of women in every state cannot be determined by income level or zip code.