Since I was first elected to Congress, I have proudly championed policies that directly address the shameful disadvantages women still face in the workplace, in healthcare, and in other areas.
Women making their own health decisions
On June 24, 2022, the far-right Supreme Court majority voted to strike down Roe v. Wade and overturn nearly 50 years of precedent that guarantees safe and legal abortions, despite Americans’ broad support for abortion rights. What comes next is a wave of oppressive anti-abortion laws in more than 20 states — home to roughly half the country’s population — that will target women and infringe on their constitutional right to critical reproductive health care.
That’s why I voted to pass H.R. 8296, the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), and H.R. 8297, the Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act, two critical bills that will protect a woman’s right to an abortion, as well as a person’s constitutional right to travel across state lines for the purpose of obtaining a lawful abortion.
The Women’s Health Protection Act would protect the right to abortion throughout the United States and would block the barrage of state bans and restrictions on abortion intended to impede or outright deny access. The bill would overturn the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson and protect a person’s freedom to make decisions about their own reproductive health care and a health care provider’s ability to provide the full range of reproductive health services, including abortion. The Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act prohibits any person from restricting or impeding a person’s constitutional right to travel across state lines for the purpose of obtaining a lawful abortion.
Also by overruling Roe v. Wade, the Republican-controlled Court has called into question the constitutionality of contraception and the other rights that stem from the right to privacy guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment. In doing so, the Court has provided a roadmap for future courts to reconsider and overrule the right to contraception and other fundamental rights in the future.
I voted to pass H.R. 8373, the Right to Contraception Act, to protect the rights of individuals to obtain contraceptives and for health care providers to provide contraceptives and information related to contraception. It ensures that neither states nor a hostile Republican administration can limit people’s access to contraceptives or the ability of health care providers to provide contraceptives and information related to them.
Ending the wage gap and guaranteeing equal pay for equal work
One of my top priorities is ensuring that women are paid and treated fairly at work. Women who do the same work as men deserve to be paid the same, period. Women who do better work than their male colleagues deserve to be paid more. Pay scales shouldn’t grade on a curve.
Unfortunately, Congress has yet to put this simple principle into law. As a result, today the average woman earns 80 cents for every dollar earned by the average man for the same work. Even worse, the average Hispanic woman earns 54 cents for every dollar the average white male makes. It’s not enough to call this unacceptable. It’s un-American, and we need to fix it.
That’s why I am a proud cosponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would require employers to demonstrate that wage differentials are based on factors other than sex, bans firms from retaliating against women who raise concerns about their wages, and strengthen penalties for equal pay violations.
Guaranteeing paid maternity leave
Study after study has shown that a mother’s presence following childbirth is essential to a newborn’s health and development and that women who receive paid maternity leave are more likely to keep working and seeing future wage increases. In addition, providing mothers with a source of income during their time off would boost the economy and help families avoid medical debt. That’s why I cosponsor the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act, which would provide workers with up to 12 weeks of partial income when they take time off for their own serious health conditions, including pregnancy and childbirth recovery; the serious health condition of a child, parent, spouse or domestic partner; the birth or adoption of a child; and/or for particular military caregiving and leave purposes.