Pregnant Students' Rights Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 6914, the so-called Pregnant Students' Rights Act.

In a post-Roe world where women face State-sanctioned abortion bans and complicated legal challenges to access healthcare, students should be aware of all of their reproductive options and protections.

Yet, House Republicans in this bill are denying students the choice to decide by pushing an extreme bill that would keep students in the dark about the comprehensive healthcare choices, resources, and all of the rights that are available to them.

On its face, the bill purports to provide pregnant students with resources available to them while they are seeking an education. In fact, the bill requires colleges and universities to distribute only partial information about existing rights under Title IX, as well as selective information on resources that solely encourage students to carry a pregnancy to term.

Now, how can you make an informed and potentially life-changing decision if you are only provided with partial information about your rights and available resources?

Madam Speaker, students already face challenges on campus, including mental health problems, financial and food insecurity, academic difficulties, just to name a few. This bill would make life much more challenging for students, but the true danger is in what the Republicans carefully left out.

For example, the bill fails to require schools to inform students about contraception, which would help students actually avoid unplanned pregnancies; their rights and resources if they experience a miscarriage; and vital resources if they need to terminate a pregnancy due to health-related emergencies.

In short, the bill provides students with just some of their rights, only selective rights. Contrary to their claims, the bill does not provide any new rights or resources like childcare assistance or affordable housing for pregnant or parenting students.

Additionally, if a student decides to carry a child to term, this bill will not even provide any information on how to obtain funding, childcare, nutrition support like WIC, affordable housing options, or other critical supports.

The bottom line is that here we are again wasting time with another harmful bill that jeopardizes sexual and reproductive healthcare for women. Restricting access to important information is both extreme and defies common sense.

For these reasons, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this bill.

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