ICYMI: At Spotlight Forum on Dobbs Anniversary, Blunt Rochester and Senate Democrats Highlight How Republicans’ Efforts to Ban Abortion & Rip Away Reproductive Health Care Has[...]

Click here to watch Senator Blunt Rochester's Remarks

U.S. Senators Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, were joined by multiple Senate Democrats for spotlight forum titled Post Dobbs Chaos: Republicans' War on Reproductive Health Care. At the forum, Senate Democrats heard from panelists who have suffered the consequences of the Dobbs decision and subsequent Republican abortion bans firsthand. They discussed how the Trump administration and Republicans are sowing chaos for women and health care providers across the country through ongoing attacks on reproductive rights and women's health care, alongside escalating efforts to enact a nationwide abortion ban.

"When Roe v. Wade was overturned four years ago, the lives of millions of women were upended," said Senator Blunt Rochester. "As we approach America 250, we must reconcile with the fact that women today have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers did when they celebrated the bicentennial. They knew then what we know now: Abortion is healthcare. It's time to restore our freedoms and our rights."

"The Dobbs decision was just the beginning of Republicans' war on women's reproductive rights-their goal has always been a national abortion ban. Republicans are hoping we don't notice, but from trying to get mifepristone classified as a water contaminant to defunding Planned Parenthood, we can see clear as day that Republicans are working to enact a national abortion ban," said Senator Murray. "Republicans have already caused enormous damage, shuttering women's health clinics across the country, forcing women to carry dangerous pregnancies to term, and decimating access to maternal health care. But Democrats will continue to push for legislation to protect women and health care providers. That's why we are uplifting the stories of women across the country who have suffered from Republicans' abortion bans and the providers who are trying their best to care for them. We will keep fighting to restore the right to abortion for every woman in all 50 states."

The senators' spotlight forum comes after more than a year of Republican trifecta control of government, during which the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have repeatedly attacked the reproductive health care American women depend on, creating widespread disruption and turmoil for patients and providers alike. Last year, Republicans in Congress pushed through their Big Ugly Bill that defunded Planned Parenthood and is kicking millions of Americans off Medicaid. Last year, the Trump administration withheld millions in Title X funding, putting more than 840,000 people at risk of losing access to family planning and preventive health care. This year, the administration further destabilized the Title X program by delaying the standard application process for new grants.

Throughout 2025 and into 2026, Republicans intensified their campaign to eliminate access to mifepristone-an FDA-approved abortion medication-through sham hearings, politically motivated reviews, conspiracy theories, attempts to weaponize environmental laws, and by continued efforts to secure abortion restrictions through the courts. More recently, the Trump Department of Justice announced, and later walked back, a $1.7 billion slush fund that could compensate anti-abortion extremists convicted of assaulting abortion clinic staff and violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act-notably, despite widespread bipartisan condemnation, Trump refuses to rule out establishment of the fund. At the same time, the Trump administration has abandoned enforcement of the FACE Act, further emboldening those who threaten patients, providers, and access to reproductive health care.

Click here to watch Senator Blunt Rochester's Remarks.