Heinrich Attends Senate Democrats’ Abortion Rights Briefing Ahead of Roe v. Wade Anniversary

WASHINGTON – This week, ahead of the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Senate Democrats to host a briefing on the state of abortion rights in America, the chaos and cruelty of the abortion bans that have been enacted in Republican-led states since Roe was overturned, and the need to pass legislation to restore the right to abortion nationwide. 

At the briefing, 19 Senate Democrats heard from and asked questions of panelists Dr. Austin Dennard, a Texas OB/GYN and patient plaintiff in the Zurawski v. Texas case who was forced to leave her state for abortion care after receiving a fatal fetal diagnosis that threatened her health; Jessica Valenti, founder of the comprehensive daily newsletter Abortion Every Day that tracks anything and everything happening with abortion; and Dr. Serina Floyd,Chief Medical Officer for Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, DC and a fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health. 

The briefing highlighted the horrific fallout from the Dobbs decision—including the pain and suffering women are being forced to endure in states where abortion is now banned. During the briefing, Senate Democrats made clear that they will keep talking about abortion at every opportunity, using every tool at their disposal to shine a light on the awful realities the Dobbs decision created and relentlessly make the case for restoring and expanding abortion access nationwide.

Video of Senator Heinrich’s questions and witnesses’ answers is availableHERE.

During his questioning, Heinrich asked Dr. Floyd and Dr. Dennard about the specific impact of the Dobbs decision on states like New Mexico and the patients who are now having to travel great distances to access reproductive health care.

“Talk to us a little bit about the impact that the Dobbs decision is really having on all the states where abortion is still legal and states like mine that had limited infrastructure to serve our own community that are now really having to provide services for multiple states around us as well,” said Heinrich. “I’d love your thoughts as well on the impact logistically that travel is having on patients across the country.”

Dr. Floyd responded, “What it means is that there is increased demand in these places. There are higher volumes. There are delays to being able to access care. There are longer wait times. For patients, there are higher costs associated with traveling. For providers who are trying to accommodate the increases in volume that they may be seeing, it oftentimes means you may have to re-look at your schedules. You have to figure out how do I change my work flows, how do I change my staffing levels so I have enough people to take care of the patients we are seeing…What that translates into ultimately is absolutely overwhelmed.”

Heinrich followed up, “Talk a little bit about what a delay in care really means.”

Dr. Floyd answered, “Honestly, depending on where they are already in a pregnancy, that delay could mean the difference between being able to get an abortion or not. It could mean the difference between being able to get a medication abortion or being forced to have a procedural abortion that you did not want. Sometimes, delays in care can result in procedures being more complicated because someone is further along in their pregnancy. The costs most certainly go up as they get further into a pregnancy. If you’re delayed because you’re trying to get an appointment somewhere or navigate the logistics of travel, by the time you get there, oftentimes you are in a much more difficult situation than if you had been able to get the care earlier.”

Dr. Dennard, speaking from her personal perspective, addressed the emotional toll of delays and the need to travel out-of-state for abortion care. She said, “Personally, in addition to just the absolute heartbreak of finding our diagnosis and knowing that I needed an abortion, I just would like everyone in this room to think about what it’s like to have a surgery from someone you’ve never met. It’s scary. It’s very scary. And even as an OB/GYN, understanding the procedure, understanding that what I was going through as far as my abortion was very low risk, and I was in good hands, it’s absolutely terrifying.”

Video of the full briefing is available HERE.

Heinrich remains unwavering his commitment to protect women’s freedom to choose. 

In December 2023, Heinrich joined U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), and 38 of their Senate colleagues in introducing a resolution in support of equitable, science-based policies governing access to medication abortion.

In May 2023, Heinrich cosponsored the Protecting Service Members and Military Families’ Access to Health Care Act to codify the Department of Defense’s (DOD) February 16, 2023 policy to ensure service members and their families can access non-covered reproductive health care, including abortion services, regardless of the state in which they are stationed.

In April 2023, Heinrich joined an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the case of Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, in support of the Biden administration’s appeal of Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk’s ruling that suspends the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) more than 20-year-old approval of mifepristone.

In April 2023, Heinrich, as Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, presided over a hearing on the President’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Heinrich expressed his strongly held view that the “decisions the FDA makes, whether approving a medical device or approving a new drug, must be guided by science and not by political pressure.”

In a statement in April 2023, Heinrich said that a recent federal court ruling by a judge in Texas has “undermined the FDA’s safety and efficacy determination of Mifepristone. And with it, he has undermined the FDA’s authority to determine the safety and efficacy of all medications – from insulin to cancer treatment.”

In March 2023, Heinrich cosponsored the Women’s Health Protection Act to prohibit states from imposing restrictions that jeopardize access to abortion earlier in pregnancy, including many of the state-level restrictions in place prior to Dobbs, such as arbitrary waiting periods, medically unnecessary mandatory ultrasounds, or requirements to provide medically inaccurate information. The bill would also ensure that later in pregnancy, states cannot limit access to abortion if it would jeopardize the life or health of the mother and protect the ability to travel out of state for an abortion, which has become increasingly common in recent years.

In September 2022, Heinrich urged the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to take immediate action to safeguard women’s privacy and their ability to safely and confidentially get the health care they need.

In September 2021, Heinrich joined a group of 48 Democrats in the U.S. Senate and 188 in the U.S. House of Representatives that filed a bicameral amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold nearly 50 years of precedent in Roe v. Wade and protect the constitutional right to abortion care.