WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today slammed Republican Senators’ efforts to restrict women’s access to reproductive health care. GOP Senators introduced two separate bills aimed at impeding a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions and criminalizing health care providers for doing their jobs. The legislation failed to pass but Brown said this is further evidence that we must fight back against the continual Republican efforts to shame women and restrict their access to necessary health care and abortion services.

“Health care decisions should be made by women and their doctors, not politicians,” said Brown. “Today’s vote was yet another Republican attempt to take away Ohioans’ access to health care – it wasn’t about protecting women; it was about shaming women. I trust women, period.”

The two bills voted on today are opposed by a wide range of health care providers, including the American College of Nurse-Midwives, the American College of Obstetricians and gynecologists, and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine.

Last May, Brown helped introduce the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) – a bicameral legislation that would protect women’s freedom to make their own decisions about their reproductive health. The WHPA has 42 co-sponsors in the Senate and 171 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives. WHPA is endorsed by leading women’s health and civil rights organizations, including the Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and the ACLU.

Brown also introduced a resolution last year supporting women’s reproductive rights. The resolution, which affirms support for women’s access to reproductive health care and women’s right to make their own health care decisions, came on the heels of legislative efforts in states like Ohio, Georgia, and Alabama to undermine women’s reproductive rights and ultimately overturn Roe v. Wade.

Brown continues to speak out against Republican efforts in Ohio and across the country to restrict a woman’s right to choose. Brown said these attempts by GOP legislators to strip women of their reproductive rights are wrong and we must fight back.

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