Reps. Pramila Jayapal, Cori Bush, and Barbara Lee are testifying at a hearing of the House Oversight Committee on their personal stories of obtaining abortion care. (Photo: NBC)
'Not Ashamed': Democratic Congresswomen Testify About Their Personal Abortion Stories
Reps. Pramila Jayapal, Cori Bush, and Barbara Lee are testifying.
Sep 30, 2021
Reproductive rights advocates on Thursday expressed gratitude to three Democratic congresswomen ahead of their testimonies at a House Oversight Committee hearing on protecting abortion access, as Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) planned to share their own personal stories of obtaining abortion care.
"Thank you for your vulnerability to advance justice," said Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) on social media to her colleagues ahead of the hearing.
The three lawmakers are testifying at the committee's hearing on "Examining the Urgent Need to Protect and Expand Abortion Rights and Access" beginning at 10:00am.
Watch the hearing below:
"Today, I am testifying before you because I want you to know there are so many different situations that people face in making these choices," said Jayapal. "It is simply no one's business what choices we as pregnant people make about our bodies."
On Wednesday evening, Bush, Jayapal, and Lee also shared their personal stories in an interview with MSNBC correspondent Ali Vitali.
\u201c.@alivitali did some really powerful interviews with Congresswomen @CoriBush @RepBarbaraLee @RepJayapal, who all shared their abortion story.\n\nhttps://t.co/3jkeYhMei4\u201d— Rachel Witkin (@Rachel Witkin) 1632959661
"When I found out that I was pregnant it was very difficult because I still didn't understand what was happening," said Bush, who became pregnant as the result of being raped at the age of 17. "I just knew I wasn't ready for a child."
"I am not ashamed," Bush said on Twitter Wednesday.
Jayapal shared that she had an abortion after getting pregnant following her first "incredibly difficult pregnancy," after which she suffered severe postpartum depression.
"I just realized that there was no way I could have another baby at that time and that I could not go through what I had gone through," said the congresswoman.
The hearing comes days after the House passed the Women's Health Protection Act, which would ensure access to legal abortion care in every state, and is being held amid increasingly extreme attacks on reproductive rights in Republican-led states, including the passage of Texas' six-week abortion ban, S.B. 8. In December, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a Mississippi case which directly challenges Roe vs. Wade.
"The Senate and the White House must act swiftly to pass [the Women's Health Protection Act] and sign it into law," said Pressley at the hearing. "It has been 30 days since the Texas law went into effect. Each day that goes by without congressional action more and more people are denied their constitutional right to critical abortion care."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Reproductive rights advocates on Thursday expressed gratitude to three Democratic congresswomen ahead of their testimonies at a House Oversight Committee hearing on protecting abortion access, as Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) planned to share their own personal stories of obtaining abortion care.
"Thank you for your vulnerability to advance justice," said Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) on social media to her colleagues ahead of the hearing.
The three lawmakers are testifying at the committee's hearing on "Examining the Urgent Need to Protect and Expand Abortion Rights and Access" beginning at 10:00am.
Watch the hearing below:
"Today, I am testifying before you because I want you to know there are so many different situations that people face in making these choices," said Jayapal. "It is simply no one's business what choices we as pregnant people make about our bodies."
On Wednesday evening, Bush, Jayapal, and Lee also shared their personal stories in an interview with MSNBC correspondent Ali Vitali.
\u201c.@alivitali did some really powerful interviews with Congresswomen @CoriBush @RepBarbaraLee @RepJayapal, who all shared their abortion story.\n\nhttps://t.co/3jkeYhMei4\u201d— Rachel Witkin (@Rachel Witkin) 1632959661
"When I found out that I was pregnant it was very difficult because I still didn't understand what was happening," said Bush, who became pregnant as the result of being raped at the age of 17. "I just knew I wasn't ready for a child."
"I am not ashamed," Bush said on Twitter Wednesday.
Jayapal shared that she had an abortion after getting pregnant following her first "incredibly difficult pregnancy," after which she suffered severe postpartum depression.
"I just realized that there was no way I could have another baby at that time and that I could not go through what I had gone through," said the congresswoman.
The hearing comes days after the House passed the Women's Health Protection Act, which would ensure access to legal abortion care in every state, and is being held amid increasingly extreme attacks on reproductive rights in Republican-led states, including the passage of Texas' six-week abortion ban, S.B. 8. In December, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a Mississippi case which directly challenges Roe vs. Wade.
"The Senate and the White House must act swiftly to pass [the Women's Health Protection Act] and sign it into law," said Pressley at the hearing. "It has been 30 days since the Texas law went into effect. Each day that goes by without congressional action more and more people are denied their constitutional right to critical abortion care."
Reproductive rights advocates on Thursday expressed gratitude to three Democratic congresswomen ahead of their testimonies at a House Oversight Committee hearing on protecting abortion access, as Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) planned to share their own personal stories of obtaining abortion care.
"Thank you for your vulnerability to advance justice," said Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) on social media to her colleagues ahead of the hearing.
The three lawmakers are testifying at the committee's hearing on "Examining the Urgent Need to Protect and Expand Abortion Rights and Access" beginning at 10:00am.
Watch the hearing below:
"Today, I am testifying before you because I want you to know there are so many different situations that people face in making these choices," said Jayapal. "It is simply no one's business what choices we as pregnant people make about our bodies."
On Wednesday evening, Bush, Jayapal, and Lee also shared their personal stories in an interview with MSNBC correspondent Ali Vitali.
\u201c.@alivitali did some really powerful interviews with Congresswomen @CoriBush @RepBarbaraLee @RepJayapal, who all shared their abortion story.\n\nhttps://t.co/3jkeYhMei4\u201d— Rachel Witkin (@Rachel Witkin) 1632959661
"When I found out that I was pregnant it was very difficult because I still didn't understand what was happening," said Bush, who became pregnant as the result of being raped at the age of 17. "I just knew I wasn't ready for a child."
"I am not ashamed," Bush said on Twitter Wednesday.
Jayapal shared that she had an abortion after getting pregnant following her first "incredibly difficult pregnancy," after which she suffered severe postpartum depression.
"I just realized that there was no way I could have another baby at that time and that I could not go through what I had gone through," said the congresswoman.
The hearing comes days after the House passed the Women's Health Protection Act, which would ensure access to legal abortion care in every state, and is being held amid increasingly extreme attacks on reproductive rights in Republican-led states, including the passage of Texas' six-week abortion ban, S.B. 8. In December, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a Mississippi case which directly challenges Roe vs. Wade.
"The Senate and the White House must act swiftly to pass [the Women's Health Protection Act] and sign it into law," said Pressley at the hearing. "It has been 30 days since the Texas law went into effect. Each day that goes by without congressional action more and more people are denied their constitutional right to critical abortion care."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.