julianne malveaux will take your phone calls and tweak its for three hours. >> i tried to look at this at the larger perspective and try to see how we got to where we were today. is there any trend or a theme that runs through our relationship? what the ultimate goal as an objective account of what transpired on both sides. >>david crist on 30 years of austerity between the u.s. and iran it. >> on tuesday the house fail to pass a bill that would ban abortions in washington, d.c..

mr. speaker, sometimes schoolyard boys pick on the wrong kid. antitrust forces thought they found a cheap way to make a large point against the right of women in our country to reproductive health and choice. so they picked on the district of columbia. picked a fight with the district of columbia. after all the district of columbia doesn't have a vote. even if the billle is about only the district of columbia. -- bill is only about the district of columbia, but in the process they picked a fight

with the women of the united states because this is still a pro-choice nation. they didn't want to get women worked up in an election year, but they wanted a federal label. so they thought they could get the house to pass a bill that's coming to the floor today on suspension that women in the district of columbia are not entitled to an abortion previability at 20 weeks. mind you, everywhere else in the united states that right still would exist. and while they are at it, they say let's penalize women by allowing an injunction against abortion by these women by anyby, any caretaker who has had anything to do with them anywhere in their life. i guess the elementary school nurse could come in and seek and injunction and penalize

doctors. two years in jail. and a fine. no health exceptions for the woman no matter her healtor fetal abnormality. no rape, incest exception. one of my constituents, professor zinc, had an abortion at 21 weeks. the earliest time her physicians discovered that she was carrying a fetus with half a brain. had it been born alive at all, it would have had constant seizures. she would have had to carry that fetus to term. sometimes boys pick the wrong fight. the forces have threatened leadership here and particularly republicans saying they are going to score the vote. all that did was bring out the really big boys. planned parenthood and pro-choice, naral, who are

going to score it as well. it will take 2/3 toass this bill. i'm hoping that you won't get that kind of supermajority. this is not the typical anti-home rule bill that holds everne else harmless except d.c. residents, the d.c. government. this bill is a key element in a state by state campaign that seeks fit undermine and eliminate reproductive choice and relt for -- alth for women across the united states. the miscalculated, they have reinvigorated the pro-choice movement. they have -- just as they did when they infill freighted the susan -- infiltrated the susan b. komen race for the cure and forced could he men to do -- komen to do reverse take and continue to give to parenthood

just as they did when they failed to defund planned parenthood. just as they did with the attack on contraceptives in health care policies. now people see this fight against reproductive choice for what it is because it ended with the constitutional right to abortion. they have abandoned all their principles because if they feel so deeply you how could they put a bill in that would affect only women and fetuses in the district of columbia. the supreme court decided 39 years ago that a woman is entitled to an abortion. it's not a constitutional right everywhere except the nation's capital. the it's a constitutional right everywhere. they are great but they are differences we must respect and the supreme court has settled those differences with roe vs. wade, which says previability, this is between a woman and her

doctor. active viability, of course there are some things that can be done, but the health of the mother always has to be a large factor. this bill stretches beyond any penalty, any doctors in our country will ever receive. any penalty on women. and it is the kind of bill that sends a message to women. this is not a house that is protecting her reproductive health f this bill passes, it will cause -- health.

>> we gather our team. good morning everybody. i first of all want to start by thanking the center for organizing this announcement today and for inviting me to join these wonderful senate leaders and a consumer from ohio to talk about women's health. the leaders i am with today has been such strong advocates for women and their health for decades. i am really pleased to join them. today we are here to market a new day for women pose a health and america. starting tomorrow thanks to the new health-care law, all insurance policies will be required t cover new michael

care women need to stay healthy. they will have to cover it without charging women out of pocket. we are likely to be the health care decisionmakers in our families keeping our children up to date on checkups, urging our spouses to take care of themselves, helping an elderly parent stay on education are find extra money to pay for health insurance. too often we put our own health last. that is especially true when it comes to preventive care. the regular screenings so important to staying healthy that can be too easy to put off. what makes it worse is that before the health care a lot. many did not cover basic care. other health-care plans charged such high payments that they discouraged women from getting services. as a result survey results

showed more than half of the women and delay or avoid a preventive care because of its cost. that is simply not right. that is not good for our country. t why it to the health-care law, that is about to change. new private plans and that medicare have been uncovering life changing tests and care for men and women such as cholesterol screenings and flu shots with no copaiba. all new insurance plans will be required to cover additional services without out of pocket cost including domestic violence screenings, contraception, breast feeding counseling and supplies, and a well woman visitor where she can sit down with their health care provider. according to a report released by our department, 47 women in america will be eligible to

receive the vital care with no health paid. no woman should choose between seeing a doctor and putting food on the table for her family. many women will not have to make the choice any longer. it is important to know many women will see it been more protections thanks to the new law. starting in 2014, it will be illegal for companies to deny coverage because they are a breast cancer survivor or pregnant or a victim of domestic violence. it will be illegal finally in america to charge women more than a man just because they are women. being a woman will no longer be a pre-existing condition in this country. for too long insurance companies have stacked the deck against women forcing us to pay more for coverage that did not meet our needs. a new day for women's health

has arrived. i would like to turn over the podium to the center for has not only been an incredible championed for women's health but is the dean of women in congress. >> thank you very much. >> well done. >> good morning, everybody. what a happy day. tomorrow august 1 will be an opportunity for a woman who in need of preventive health care services will be able to take a giant step forward to have access to the care they need without cost or discrimination. tomorrow august 4, put this down on your calendar. whitman will be able to have access to the essential preventive services that will provide early detection and

screening for those situations where they are most at risk and also provide opportunities to care and service they need as wives and mothers. this is called the women's preventive health care amendment. during the health-care debate, we wanted to do two things. we wanted to save lives and save money. we knew preventive health care was a cornerstone to that. early detection means -- early detection and screening provides the protection where we know the problem before it spreads to a lethal nature. one of the most important tools we women have is mammograms. they wanted to take the mammogram's away from us. well, hey, not while i am here. what did we do?

we organized with senator harkin and senator dodd leading their committee, working with a good women and men that supported us. i was able to bring to the floor the preventive a women's health care amendment. we suited up. we put on our good -- we were able to pass legislation. what does it mean? it means that we will be able to have access to those early detection and screenings for breast cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, all of the dreaded see words we are terrified of where we know if a woman gets a disease, it not only eve fax her but the entire family. we did not want to write the benefit. we wanted to turn to a learned

society to say, what were the essentials services. that is why they came up with the annual checkup. the breast-feeding support. the domestic violence screening as well as access to contraception. what we will be able to do is what the top killers of women will no longer go undetected. the kind of support services that we need to be healthy to be good mothers and to be able to have our family life. we eliminate the valleys of care, the most important was cost. often women did not seek that because of the co pays and deductibles. the second was the attitude of insurance companies to charge women more. we got less. we have eliminated the barriers. we eliminated the benefits. on august 1, women all over

america will be able to have access to care that they have had to fight for for so long. i am so grateful we were able to pass the affordable care act that we had the support of the leadership. this was not only a woman's issue, this was a family's issue. we had the support of fantastic man. one of the great champions here has been senator harkin. he was one of the prime movers in the affordable health care act. he is one of the prime movers in the whole concept of protection and wellness. he has been a great champion for women proving the fact that man of quality never are shy about supporting women who seek equality. let me bring up our good friend senator tom harkin.

>> first of all, thank you. thank you for your dynamic leadership at the department of health and human services. again, i can not thank you enough center. we team up together. senator kennedy asked each of us to had certain parts of the reform bill. we worked together closely to put this all together. while we worked hard to put together a strong preventive package that includes everyone, because we wanted to change the sick care system to a health care system, one where people could get early checkups and prevent an analyst from progressing. a lot of that went into effect a couple of years ago under the preventative services task force recommendation. a covered everybody.

what we are talking about a dozen to effect tomorrow of the recommendations of the institute of medicine. that pertained particularly to women. that was what barbara championed so far and brought to the senate, this focus. this focus that because women -- do i need to state the obvious -- they are different than men. certain health requirements are different than men. and so we asked the institute of medicine to come up with a list of preventive services that ought to be included in the package. that is what starts tomorrow. tomorrow 47 million american women will not be able to get preventive services that cannot the before and know cost -- no copays or deductibles. they will be able to go in and get a visit annually as a checkup. i know we focus a lot of breast

cancer and other screenings. i will return to that in a second. there are a lot of other things, too. whether as much or diabetes or a host of other things women in need to have a visit every year. that will start tomorrow. 47 million american women, 519,000 in my state of iowa. they will have preventative services available to them. we fought very hard to include these. the center has given me -- would not be a will to do it without her leadership. she focus like a laser on the issue. making sure women had all of these preventative services available. i guess if i had what my regret is that it took us two years to get here. better late than never. tomorrow is a new day.

on a more personal note, i lost both of my sisters to breast cancer. at a fairly young age. when my older sister mary ann and died and we went to her funeral, her younger sister sylvia -- soviet was there. she had no idea that she also had breast cancer. within two years she was dead also. they left young families. they lived in rural areas and small towns. they did not have any money. they did not have a health care coverage. for them to go and get a checkup would have cost money. money they could not afford at the time. they had a number of kids. as i said, they did not have a lot of money or health care benefits.

it could have been different if they have this available to them. early checkups. early screenings. for both of them it was way to live by the time they discovered it. this has a very personal, poignant meaning to me. i just hope women in this country will take advantage of this. they will not go and get the annual screenings. it will get the checkups. early detection we know works. millions of lives can be saved. families will not have to lose a parent or a sister because of breast cancer or cervical cancer. all of the others. so when i hear republicans say -- is still said they went to repel this, they want to take this away from women, i stay

with the center. as long as we are here. >> thank you, senator harkin for your leadership and your willingness to share a personal and moving story. to underscore the importance of today. i think the center for her tireless leadership and the continuing to fight hard for this amendment that was adopted. leading the nation as a transformational moment for all of us. the goal of the affordable health care act is to help the nation to become healthy. in being more healthy, we can be a more prosperous, economically vital nation. it is a blessing when the citizens are healthy. it is truly a blessing when the women of a nation are healthy. the mothers of a nation are healthy.

as senator mikulski pointed out and secretary sibelius, women are the primary caregivers of a nation. the healthier the caregivers are, the better a nation will be. it makes so much sense it is a shame this was illegal until today. with this legislation, with this government requirement which is important, a partnership with insurance companies, women will be able to get the care they need to stay healthy. to raise their sisters -- to raise their assist -- their children themselves. to have mothers healthy to raise their children as opposed to transferring the burden to the ticket -- society or community are enormous. for louisiana, over 600,000 women with private insurance -- not woman on medicare and not

women on medicaid that will benefit as well -- but 600,000 women with private insurance will be able to access services to keep themselves healthy and well. women working minimum-wage jobs or woman that show up at the highest levels of the companies said the corporate level. this is truly an amazing day. it would not have happened without senator mikulski is leadership. let's keep our women and mothers help the. -- healthy. >> i am pleased to be here. colleagues that have the guts to stand up and fight the battle that women deserve. that is reasonably good health care led by mikulski who always surprises us with her leadership, and dynamism,

tenacity, and all of the things that resulted in where we stand in the health-care bill right now. can you and imagine what would have happened in february when one of our colleagues in the senate decided to bring up an amendment that would strike the women pose a health care -- women's health care section out of the reform bill? what would have happened is that at the same time, a woman came in there and said, you know what, i think we ought to stop prostate screening for men. what would have happened? we might get a response to that. the fact of the matter is there is a man oligarchy that wants to decide what woman ought to be doing for their families. now there is a chief honcho

whose name is romney who has resolved to repeal health care the first day he has office. we are saying, to bed. you do not know barbara mikulski and her following. all of us salute when succumbs in the room because she deserves our respect and affection and thanks. i have five daughters and six granddaughters. i want them to know -- i want them to keep their mitts off of our kids and grandchildren. we will continue to fight the fight led by barbara mikulski and secretary sibelius. tell the guys on the other side. tomorrow is a new dawn coming. we will keep shining a light on that. >> first, let me tell you on

behalf of the people in maryland, i have the honor of representing 1 million women who benefit from the announcement in my state. we are proud we have sent to the senate one of the great leaders on gen -- gender equality issues. she has been a leader throughout her career on gender equity issues whether it is fairness with the ledbetter act or the preventive health care i in the affordable health care act. we thank you on behalf of a grateful nation the progress we have made to close the gap on fairness and equality in the health-care system.

and have been discriminated against. the provisions of the affordable health care act help to close the gap in fairness and america on health care. secretary sibelius' already mentioned some of the facts. we have no limits on caps that effect women more than men. by 2014 the annual cap will be gone on insurance policies. we talk about pre-existing conditions. women who have been discriminated against are really the poster children for why we needed to eliminate pre-existing conditions. that will end in 2014. higher premiums just because they are women, that will end. on august 1 tomorrow, there are many provisions -- when they

have to give value for the premium dollar, that takes effect on august 1. women are going to benefit from that provision. i am proud of the preventive health services you have read about. senator mikulski was responsible for the amendment we put into law. it will give women the preventive health care services they need without copayment. this is an important day as we continue to make progress in america to provide quality affordable health care to all people in the nation. i am proud to be on senator mikulski's team. >> thank you.

tomorrow august 1 is a great day for women and families in the country. tomorrow the provisions of the affordable care act that are so important to women go into effect. i want to thank senator mikulski, senator harkin and all of my colleagues for the works they have put an end to making the affordable care act and these provisions a lot. the data is very clear. these provisions as senator harkin has so eloquently will save lives. opponents may not want to pay for those. the reality is that because the provisions will go into effect tomorrow, women will be better off, their families will be better off, and as we look into the underlying cost of health care in the system, we will be more cost-effective with the provisions. it is a great day for women and families.

>> i am really proud to follow senator should team and to stand with some of the giants' in the senate. i agree with everything that has been said accept where he said it he was surprised by senator mikulski's tenacity and carelessness. somebody i have come to admire, i am not surprised. there are two dead giants or not with us today that stood strong and tall. senator kennedy and senator don. i am flattered to have followed senator dodd, the senator from connecticut whose citizens will benefit tomorrow. they will see a new day and a new dawn carried it will be a great day for america because it combines the quality and it

saves lives. it also saves dollars for anybody who may be impervious to the life saving effect of this measure. let's talk about dollars. prevention and detection saves resources and expenses. they will drive down cost as we must do in our health care delivery system. we are talking about diabetes screening, cancer screening, basic health screening that means detecting and stopping disease before it is spiraled out of control. that is a great day for all americans. that is a great day for families. when a mom or sister gets sick, the entire family suffers. that is a great day for the health care delivery system. it is a historic day for america because we are saying here

today we will not retreat, we will not repeal. we will not reject a step in the right direction showing washington can get things done. we can break the gridlock and move forward. i want to thank my colleagues for their great leadership and introduce something who has been a champion of health care. >> there have been any number of heroes in this country. some will not and some not so well known fighting for a gender equity. nobody has done a longer and better than she has. i was in columbus with ledbetter, somebody who stepped up and because of her fight, women a round of this country people are making more money than they would have otherwise. i will be introducing another

hero in the fight for equity and the fight for health care for women in the. about one year and a half ago i was in toledo. we announced as people across the country announced the beginning of -- the efforts and medicare are preventive care starting in early 2011. some 600,000 women and ohio, senior woman in ohio began to have preventive services. mammograms, various kinds of physicals and paying no coke pay or deductible. that was the beginning of this. one for a million women starting tomorrow will have access to the services. notable among them -- did not a typical story of somebody with the courage -- a store that is

all too common. she is the mother of four. she says for kids and a grandmother of 12. she has a story to tell. she is really the reason that we all make these flights. i remember sitting in a house committee with tom harkin as we wrote some of the preventive elegance and this bill and how important they were. it really is because of people like anne. she is willing with all of her own losses over the past to step up and fight and an ongoing way. she is an activist in toledo and an activist here.

>> thank you. yes surprised to be here. it is a pleasure to be here. it is an honor. listening to every body's speech. three minutes is a tough thing the to stay with when pleading for human life. that is what i am doing. i am a three-time survivor of cancer. you live with cancer every day of your life. that does not go away. i have been fortunate and blessed. my first bout with cancer was 30 years ago. i did have insurance thankfully. i also checked myself for 18 years because when i was 18 years old they found a lump. i am lucky to have a doctor who said do self examinations and pay attention to your body. i found it when i was 36 years old. i was lucky. i had double -- it other surgeries for repair work that

was done. it all worked out great. that was 1982. and it doesn't to i was diagnosed with colon cancer. i had no signs until i found a little bit of blood monday. because i pay attention to my body, i realize this should not be. i call the doctor right away. they found a large tumor. i have seven different doctor opinions. it all felt it was a 10-year growth of the tumor. i was 55-years old at the time and it was 11 years ago. cancer might have been avoided altogether. have i had had it that 45 been not have got to anything. thankfully i had a good insurance at that time. i ended up at washington, d.c. at a hospital for a special procedure that a doctor taught and did all over the world.

i was fortunate enough to get in there to have a tumor removed. when it came back, we had much more extensive surgery and i went back to ohio and have them because nobody wanted to work on me in toledo. the expertise was not there at that point in time. we come forward into the year 2000. i was diagnosed with breast cancer. i call my insurance company right away because the insurance i finally got, i was the night after my employer had asked me. he had asked me if i would please go off the insurance because i was costing every body to much in the company. the figure he gave me -- it was costing the company and not the individuals. there were several and the company that were carrying other jobs and i did not want them to carry the cost for me. i had no idea what i was walking into. i was refused by insurance

companies. i finally ended up at open enrollment. my cheapest until it ended up with what i did was $1,650 a month. i was on total life exclusion for cancer and respiratory. that came up because to the anesthetic to get a little bit of -- do not take any medicines for it but i am the night. in 2010 and this happened ebonite that we diagnosed i call the insurance company right away and said what you cover me and this is probably not. if it comes back-you do not meet your deductible. i am not a sick person. i take good care of myself but i get cancer. i do not know why. if they came back positive because of the pre-existing condition they would not cover me. i canceled insurance because i was paying money and not getting anything back.

luckily i was approved for a program through ohio. i was very fortunate because my bills for my one-day surgery was almost $40,000. i am single and that would have put me back. i was very fortunate to have that. i am glad they took over. i still had about $8,000 to $10,000 on my own. that was a difference from $40,000. >> or being dead. >> and to get to that, i am just a voice here representing not just millions of people women and men, but being a woman, i cannot even tell you how much we appreciate what you are doing and how much the impact will be on women. most of the people that i know it around me are women fighting cancer. i have a friend fighting bone cancer for six years which is a recurrence from breast cancer years ago. she cannot move. enough hard to get in and out of

her car. she cannot go in the backyard and sit in the sun. getting out of her bed is a project until the morning. she could be around for another six-20 years. until bone cancer hits your organs, you can live with it for a long time. as painful. to live in a world of pain and agony and fear -- when you hear the words you have cancer, it is a paralyzing moment. once you get past the moment you have to decide what to do. that decision is gigantic. until you get the decision, you are in a black hole. he have to move it forward and make up your mind you will get better. the screening and the testing and learning about your body and being educated is so very important because most cancers can be avoided. i know that i would not have had colon cancer if i would have had a colonoscopy before the time i did.

my breast cancer could have been a lot worse if i had not noticed it and an early stage. i have been fortunate. there are thousands and millions out there not as fortunate. i will throw one thing out. if you look at cancer patience a loan and take a 911 every other day of the year and you have the same amount of people who are dying from cancer in our country, 911 was horrific. it was every expletive you can think of. these are people dying day by day and are living with pain and fear and devastation, financial devastation. some losing their families. i do have that for kids and i have 12 kids. i look at them and i do not want to go to the something that i went there rise to many of my friends go through. i lost my brother's three months ago in my sister was diagnosed three months ago with melanoma. this is tough.

this is a very tough. i thank you very much, senator, and all of you that have supported this and are putting this into effect. i do not understand how the cannot put this as a priority. since there are not, thank you. please take the voices and strong. >> i would like to thank marcia green bird. she is a founder and co- president. [applause] and action network, the national women's law center. we could not have done it

without each other. we were all in it together. i want to thank the advocates. it is their voice that will have brought this to the floor. many nice things were said about me today. you have to talk about the people in the trenches every day. the people who were affected. the people who give a voice to the statistics. i wanted to publicly thank them. we could have never have done this without their incredible work. the narrative shows why we will never try to repeal this bill. we will fight it. now, marcia. >> thank you very much. all of the champions for women's health who are here and in this is very exciting day.

your story is such an amazing talking that we're not about statistics, we are talking about people. we are talking about the most heart wrenching health circumstances that can be avoided with access to the health-care system, with a decent health insurance for every american in this country. that is what the affordable care act promises. coming into effect tomorrow for each new plan as it comes on line, the promise for women and their families is just incalculable. but i want to add a few things to what has already been said so movingly by others whose spoken

earlier first of all, it is actually the 40th anniversary of .he national women's step by step by step efforts by efforts it has taken this long and longer to reach a day when women's health is not an afterthought. when it is not an ad on. when we are not trying the one service at a time to get included when the model of health can include and health care can include women as well as men. that is really what is so fundamentally thrilling about what we are on the brink of experiencing. because of the affordable care

act and the preventive health care amendment that the senator led towards passage, women are not only not a pre-existing condition, but we have had experts identifying from the get go -- what is it that makes women healthy? what are the services women need? they need to be included. they need to be a part of what is available in this country. not through charity. not through happenstance. but because the law incorporates women's health as one of its fundamental purposes. the national law center a number of years ago did a report of the individual market. she told pretty movingly how difficult it was to be on your

own and have to buy health insurance. what we found was that women who had to buy insurance were not only charged routinely more than men -- as much as 85% more than men, that was excluding maternity coverage. excluding contraception. now, we will face and it meet today when women are not charged more than men and their healthcare needs are covered. whether it is counselling services for domestic violence survivors. whether it is the kind of testing to try to detect diabetes. whether it is the availability

of all forms of fda approves contraceptions so women no longer have to avoid because of the cost the most effective means of contraception for them. whether it is a means a visit so that in the maternity coverage and follow up is available for women. these kinds of services are lifesaving. they are recognition of the fact -- women that do have to take care of them are health and often are because of the cost the first ones to put their health care last as they take care of others. as each new plan turns over, as women across the country and their families can really let out a sigh of relief that they

will get access to this coverage once and for all, we have a lot to be thankful for. we know that it did not come without effort, without the fight, without leadership, without determination, and we have to continue all of the efforts to keep the progress and place. one of the things on the banner is a hash tag for health. i know there will be a lot of sweet thing and of following through today and tomorrow -- tweeting and what it promises overtime. it is important to say -- stay involved and stay engaged in state in the fight so that we continue progress and make sure that it turns into a reality for every man, woman, child in this

country. thank you. >> i forgot to introduce a deer colleague and friend from the national partnership for women and family. >> thank you. thank you senator mikulski and secretary said alice and all of the wonderful champion's on behalf of the affordable care act. -- secretary sibelius. this law is the greatest events to women's health than a generation. tomorrow august 1, one of its promises becomes a reality as you have heard from women's -- millions of women who will be healthy as a result. beginning august 1, the affordable care act will ensure a new insurance plans will cover preventive health care without

cost sharing and with no copays. net for too long have put the critical services out of reach for so many women. this is one of the most tangible benefits from reform. thanks to the affordable care act, no longer will women go without birth control because they cannot afford the copiague. no longer will women go without -- they cannot afford the coat pay. no longer will cost prevent pregnant women from being tested for gestational diabetes. no longer will cost prevent new mothers from getting the supplies they need to breast feed their infants and give them a healthier start in life. no longer will teens and adults go without potentially lifesaving screening and

counseling. it is about time. the affordable care act covers annual breast exams, mammograms, and tests at no cost. tomorrow costs cease to be a deterrent from preventive care that millions of women need. soon reform will out lot gender discrimination in pricing. at long last. as more benefits roll out, we should all focus on implementing the law and injuring all women and all americans can access the critical services. to those who try to argue repealing reform is right for this country and for our families, i say this. you cannot talk fast enough, you can not so enough confusion or in any way d.c. of the women of america. the man who care about them.

no longer. better care for a pregnant mothers, hiv is, sexually transmitted infections and domestic violence. no cost access to birth control and other preventive services will make women and our families and our country healthier. starting tomorrow, we have the affordable care act and its champion's to thank for that. we thank you. >> senator mikulski had to go to the floor. she had some time reserved to speak about this. she is our leader. see ask me to try to field any questions if you have any. >> the other women's health issue in the capital today is a bill to ban all abortions in the district of columbia.

what are your reactions on that? given the gulf between the two part is on health issues, is that something that will have to be resolved after the election? >> a while ago i chaired the district of columbia. s said then and i believed ever since, the congress of the united states should not interfere in the government of the district of columbia. regardless of banning abortions a after 20 weeks, this is no business for the u.s. congress. . >> the bishop has declared it as being illegal and an unjust mandate. they have issued an injunction. is being enforced as a texan a small-business owner. >> preliminary injunction.

>> right. >> do you believe the federal government has a right to force small business owners to act this way? >> what i do believe is that the obama administration has carved out a very sensible middle ground exception to this. churches, religious organizations, they are certainly exempted from this. for-profit businesses that cover a broad variety of people -- they do not have to pay and if they do not want to for the individual spirit have to pay in for the health care. it is up to the insurance companies whether they want to pay for this as a provision. i think the exhibition the obama administration came up with is sensible. i think we also have to keep in

mind, a lot of times we talk about birth control or contraception. many times for many young woman -- women of child-bearing age, it is not just to prevent a birth or prevent pregnancy. there are many women who take birth control pills because they have terrible minstrel crams once a month. some of them almost incapacitated and cannot work. i know of young women who are able to work and be productive. it is prescribed from their doctor. are we being told a woman has to take the prescription from a doctor and take it and show it to her employer? or show it to her insurance company about what the diagnosis is? you would not ask anybody to do that. i would ask any woman to do that either. i think that we have to move

ahead on this. i do not know what the outcome of this case will be. no it is a preliminary injunction while the cases decided. i do not know all the facts in the case. i just do not. but i do believe that we have carved out a viable exception for a religious organizations and churches. does anybody have anything to add to that? >> i will just say briefly it is very much until the beginning preliminary injunction states. i think if you look at any of the legal precedents that this particular provision is well within the legal bounds as well as being sensible as senator harkin said. of course, in this particular case, a company that is, i believe, it is what the company

is, ironically enough, of course, for those who happen to work for this company, who never thought they would be working for religious company as they are and is not a religious organization at all, they are paying into whatever their share of insurance is. and so women need to be able to get access to needed health care just like men can. of course, one of the things we have to make sure of is that this does respect woman pose a health needs and women's own religious principles and beliefs, too. in the balancing the, legal and constitutional precedents take all of this into account.

the that is why we are quite confident as this case and others move forward that the provisions will be upheld. >> over the course of the last couple of years, a number of studies has come out over the health-care debate that recorded in the breast cancer screening and mammograms -- these kinds of things have become excessive. they have created the emotional concerns for people because they were a initially positive and negative. it seems as if this is a response to some of the discussion. these prescreening tests are necessary. the problem is also that a lot of studies are coming out of increasing insurance rates. there has to be some amount of regulation on insurance. i believe that the debate on single payer and the public option has to be retaken under this consideration and explicitly because what you see explicitly because what you see with the