Senator Carper Stresses that Health Care Decisions should be made between Patients and their Providers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today at the Senate Finance Committee hearing “Chaos and Control: How Trump Criminalized Women’s Health Care,” U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) highlighted how the Supreme Court’s ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022 has impacted women’s health care. During the hearing, Senator Carper underscored the deadly consequences of anti-choice abortion bans impacting women nationwide.

Senator Carper noted that a majority of Americans continue to support access to life-saving health care, regardless of what state they live in:

“Since the Supreme Court’s extreme decision overturning Roe v. Wade, 22 states […] have enacted total abortion bans or severely restricted access to abortion.  In fact, today, […] 44% of women of reproductive age do not have access to abortion care within their home states. […] We are seeing the consequences of these abortion bans across the country–they are dangerous to women’s health, and, in some cases actually deadly. […] I […] continue to support women’s rights to make their own health care decisions and at a time when these most personal decisions and access to reproductive health care are under attack across our nation, we must work together to protect the fundamental right to access reproductive health care.”

Additionally, Senator Carper shared that health care workers cannot perform their duties in states where care is being restricted:

“Physicians are increasingly leaving states with restrictive abortion laws, effectively reshaping the national health care workforce and exacerbating existing provider shortages. In states with restrictive abortion laws, physicians are caught in a bind. On one hand, they face potential legal prosecution for providing abortion care under restrictive state laws, while, on the other hand, they may face legal action for malpractice if they deny necessary care. As a result, hospitals are seeing providers leave their states to avoid legal risk, further straining health care systems and reducing access to care. Make no mistake – in addition to putting women’s lives in danger, these extreme and restrictive, abortion bans are oftentimes putting doctors in […] impossible positions, legally and ethically.”

A video of Senator Carper’s questions at today’s hearing can be found here.

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