WCVB | 'Furious' Sen. Warren holds reproductive rights hearing in Boston
By Sharman Sacchetti
BOSTON — Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren brought the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee to Boston on Wednesday for a field hearing about reproductive rights.
"I am furious that millions of women have lost fundamental rights," Warren said at the congressional hearing in Boston.
She and Sen. Ed Markey are looking to shine a spotlight on what they call growing national threats to abortion, access, contraception and fertility treatments.
The issue not only directly affects roughly half of the population, but is also key to the Democrats' national political strategy for 2024.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell, ACLU of Massachusetts Executive Director Carol Rose, Reproductive Equity Now President Rebecca Hart Holder, Brigham and Women's Hospital physician Dr. Kathryn Fay, and U.S. Sen. Edward Markey participated in the hearing titled "The Economic and Health Impacts of Threats to Reproductive Rights."
"Republicans intend to put in place a nationwide abortion ban," Warren said at the hearing.
The senators are raising concerns over Republican-backed bills, including one supported by House Speaker Mike Johnson.
"A whole lot of other things are going to become illegal," Rose said. "That includes contraception, IVF, you know, not just abortion care."
They also highlighted attempts to ban sending abortion pills by mail to other states where abortions are not legal.
Testimony also pointed to a big increase in out-of-state patients seeking care in Massachusetts, leading to longer waits.
"Our clinics are contending with more patients," Holder said. "More appointments are funds paying for more care."
Massachusetts has a shield law in place to protect patients and providers, but the Massachusetts Attorney General says if some Republican-backed legislation passes, those laws could be at risk.
"Certain laws trump our laws," Campbell said. "We need to ring every alarm bell possible."
Next week, Markey's bill to essentially legalize and protect access to contraception in states is expected to go up for a vote in front of the U.S. Senate.
