{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.bluntrochester.senate.gov/news/press-releases/icymi-at-spotlight-forum-on-dobbs-anniversary-blunt-rochester-and-senate-democrats-highlight-how-republicans-efforts-to-ban-abortion-rip-away-reproductive-health-care-h/", "ICYMI:\u00a0At Spotlight Forum on Dobbs Anniversary,\u00a0Blunt Rochester\u00a0and Senate Democrats Highlight How Republicans\u2019 Efforts to Ban Abortion & Rip Away Reproductive Health Care Has Harmed Women & Families", "2026-06-23", "2026", "2026-06", "Democrat", "Senate", "DE", "Lisa Blunt Rochester", "B001303", "www.bluntrochester.senate.gov", "bluntrochester", "https://www.bluntrochester.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "Click here to watch Senator Blunt Rochester\u2019s Remarks\n\nU.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\u2019 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\u2019s health care, alongside escalating efforts to enact a nationwide abortion ban.\n\n\u201cWhen Roe v. Wade was overturned four years ago, the lives of millions of women were upended,\u201d said Senator Blunt Rochester. \u201cAs 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\u2019s time to restore our freedoms and our rights.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Dobbs decision was just the beginning of Republicans\u2019 war on women\u2019s reproductive rights\u2014their goal has always been a national abortion ban. Republicans are hoping we don\u2019t 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,\u201d said Senator Murray. \u201cRepublicans have already caused enormous damage, shuttering women\u2019s 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\u2019s why we are uplifting the stories of women across the country who have suffered from Republicans\u2019 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.\u201d\n\nThe senators\u2019 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.\n\nThroughout 2025 and into 2026, Republicans intensified their campaign to eliminate access to mifepristone\u2014an FDA-approved abortion medication\u2014through 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\u2014notably, 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.", 1, "2026-06-25T06:30:03Z", "2026-06-25T06:31:21Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.bluntrochester.senate.gov/news/press-releases/icymi-at-spotlight-forum-on-dobbs-anniversary-blunt-rochester-and-senate-democrats-highlight-how-republicans-efforts-to-ban-abortion-rip-away-reproductive-health-care-h/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6977558843791485, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}