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“CELEBRATING NATIONAL WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H2041 on April 1, 2004.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
CELEBRATING NATIONAL WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, as we gather to celebrate National Women's History Month, I rise to recognize not only the contributions of all women, but most importantly, the work of my constituents that made this month possible.
Sonoma County, in my district, is the birthplace of the National Women's History Project, the nonprofit education organization that is responsible for establishing Women's History Month.
In 1978, the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women initiated a Women's History Week under my tutelage. I was the Chair, actually, of the commission at that time. Later, in 1987, with the help of museums, libraries, educators across the country, the National Women's History Project petitioned Congress to expand the celebration to the entire month of March. A resolution recognizing Women's History Month was quickly passed with strong bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate.
Since that time, Women's History Month has provided a perfect opportunity to discuss and honor the contributions that women have made throughout the history of our Nation, both here in our capital and in our classrooms.
There are so many remarkable accomplishments that deserve mention, from the fight for suffrage and reproductive freedom, to efforts to give women and girls equal access to education and employment opportunities. We have come so far in so very many ways; and, yet, Mr. Speaker, we seem to be losing ground on so much of the precious progress we have made.
Since we last celebrated National Women's History Month, the President has signed a bill criminalizing a safe and accepted medical procedure for the first time ever. Legislators have now inserted themselves into the difficult medical decisions that should be left to a woman, her family, and her doctor. To add insult to injury, the Justice Department is seeking permission, permission, to rifle through women's personal medical records in the State Department's attempt to uphold this intrusive law.
These violations of privacy are without precedent and are simply, simply unacceptable. Women have worked too hard. They have fought too long to be told that they are not allowed to undergo a medical procedure recommended by their doctor, and that the Justice Department and their lawyers have the right to examine women's medical records.
It is not enough to devote a month every year to celebrating the progress that women have made in the battles that we have won. If we do not stand up after these recent impositions and insist on our right to make decisions about our own bodies, when will we? How many more restrictions must be placed on us before we insist that this must stop?
Well, on April 25 of this year, this month, actually, hundreds of thousands of women, men and children will come to Washington, D.C. to do just that. We will speak out, because women deserve accurate and balanced information about their reproductive options. We will speak out, because women deserve access to contraception and prenatal care.
These services are not a luxury for women. They are truly a matter of life or death. At the march on April 25, we will clearly convey that protecting women's lives is of paramount importance for Americans from all walks of life.
I look forward to being part of this truly historic gathering and joining with my colleagues, constituents, and people from all over the world to show the United States that we care about women's lives in America.
When we gather this time next year to recognize National Women's History Month, we will be able to list the 2004 March for Women's Lives as another notable accomplishment; and even more importantly, I hope we will be able to say that we have stopped the tide of anti-choice restrictions, to say that our private medical records will remain private, and to say that we have the right to undergo medical procedures recommended by our doctors.
In honor of National Women's History Month, we must not only remember the accomplishments of the women who have come before us; we must also commit to the protection of that progress on behalf of the women who will come after us.
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