By — News Desk News Desk Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-house-judiciary-hearing-on-abortion-care-access Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter WATCH: House Judiciary hearing on abortion care access Politics Updated on May 18, 2022 6:35 PM EDT — Published on May 18, 2022 10:16 AM EDT The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on abortion care access Wednesday following a failed attempt last week by the Senate to pass legislation codifying Roe v. Wade into federal law. Watch the hearing in the player above. Witnesses included Dr. Yashica Robinson, member on the board of directors of Physicians for Reproductive Health; Aimee Arrambide, executive director for Avow Texas; Catherine Glenn Foster, president and CEO of Americans United for Life and Michele Bratcher Goodwin, chancellor’s professor of law at the University of California, Irvine. Republicans in the U.S. Senate blocked efforts on Wednesday to enshrine abortion rights into federal law. Democrats fell well short of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster on codifying abortion access, with Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin joining all Republicans in voting against the Women’s Health Protection Act. READ MORE: As nearly all abortions come to a halt in Oklahoma, clinics search for new ways to connect patients with care “We cannot ignore the reality and the magnitude of what the Court may be poised to do and what Congressional Republicans have said that they will do once they are empowered to enact a ban on abortion nationwide,” said committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY). Nadler went on to say such bans would limit the “very essence of what it means to have bodily autotomy” for women, instead giving the state power to decide “when and how to start a family.” Polls show that most Americans want to preserve access to abortion — at least in the earlier stages of pregnancy — but the Supreme Court appeared to be poised to let the states have the final say. If that happens, roughly half of states, mostly in the South and Midwest, are expected to quickly ban abortion. By — News Desk News Desk
The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on abortion care access Wednesday following a failed attempt last week by the Senate to pass legislation codifying Roe v. Wade into federal law. Watch the hearing in the player above. Witnesses included Dr. Yashica Robinson, member on the board of directors of Physicians for Reproductive Health; Aimee Arrambide, executive director for Avow Texas; Catherine Glenn Foster, president and CEO of Americans United for Life and Michele Bratcher Goodwin, chancellor’s professor of law at the University of California, Irvine. Republicans in the U.S. Senate blocked efforts on Wednesday to enshrine abortion rights into federal law. Democrats fell well short of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster on codifying abortion access, with Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin joining all Republicans in voting against the Women’s Health Protection Act. READ MORE: As nearly all abortions come to a halt in Oklahoma, clinics search for new ways to connect patients with care “We cannot ignore the reality and the magnitude of what the Court may be poised to do and what Congressional Republicans have said that they will do once they are empowered to enact a ban on abortion nationwide,” said committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY). Nadler went on to say such bans would limit the “very essence of what it means to have bodily autotomy” for women, instead giving the state power to decide “when and how to start a family.” Polls show that most Americans want to preserve access to abortion — at least in the earlier stages of pregnancy — but the Supreme Court appeared to be poised to let the states have the final say. If that happens, roughly half of states, mostly in the South and Midwest, are expected to quickly ban abortion.