A Cruel Attack on Women’s Rights

Supreme Court Overturning Roe v. Wade

Today, the Republican-controlled Supreme Court has achieved the GOP's dark and extreme goal of ripping away women's right to make their own reproductive health decisions. Because of Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, the Republican Party and their supermajority on the Supreme Court, American women today have less freedom than their mothers.

With Roe v. Wade now out of their way, radical Republicans are charging ahead with their crusade to criminalize health freedom. In the Congress, Republicans are plotting a nationwide abortion ban. In the states, Republicans want to arrest doctors for offering reproductive care and women for terminating a pregnancy. GOP extremists are even threatening to criminalize contraception, as well as in-vitro fertilization and post-miscarriage care.

A woman's fundamental health decisions are her own to make, in consultation with her doctor and her loved ones – not to be dictated by far-right politicians. While Republicans seek to punish and control women, Democrats will keep fighting ferociously to enshrine Roe v. Wade into law.

This cruel ruling is outrageous and heart-wrenching. But make no mistake: the rights of women and all Americans are on the ballot this November.

Bipartisan Safer Communities Act
Every day, gun violence steals lives and scars communities — and this crisis demands urgent action. Today, the House passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant gun safety package passed by Congress in three decades. This life-saving bill will now go to President Biden's desk to be signed into law.

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act will implement common-sense, bipartisan measures to protect America's children, keep our communities safe and curb gun violence across our country, including:

• Support for State Crisis Intervention Orders: Incentivizing states to implement extreme risk protection order laws to keep weapons out of the hands of individuals who pose a danger to themselves or others.
• Protections for Victims of Domestic Violence: Closing the "Boyfriend Loophole" by adding convicted abusers to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
• Cracking Down on Gun Trafficking and Straw Purchases: Preventing dangerous individuals from illegally evading background checks by establishing new federal criminal offenses that cover straw purchasing and trafficking.
• Enhanced Background Checks for Buyers Under 21: Requiring longer, enhanced background checks of up to ten days for gun buyers under 21 years of age.
• Anti-Violence Community Initiatives: Providing $250 million in funding for community-based violence prevention initiatives.
• Child and Family Mental Health Services: Improving access to mental health services for children, youth and families through Medicaid, CHIP and other programs.
• Investments in School Safety: Expanding mental health and supportive services in schools, including early identification and intervention programs.

While we must do more, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is a key step forward that will help protect our children and save lives. House Democrats will never relent until we bring our nation's gun epidemic to an end once and for all.

Investing in Americans' Health
On Wednesday, the House passed the bipartisan Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act to help remove barriers to critical mental health resources, strengthen health services across the country and invest in our mental health workforce.

In order to address a national mental health crisis that has been compounded by the hardships of the pandemic, this legislation takes several steps to connect Americans with urgently needed health services:

• Strengthening Crisis Resources, including suicide prevention, mental health support, substance use disorder services, recovery housing and other services.
• Addressing America's Opioid Epidemic by easing access to life-saving treatments and strengthening training requirements for practitioners who prescribe controlled substances.
• Investing in the Behavioral Health Workforce through additional training grants and state funding.
• Supporting Young People's Mental Health by strengthening pediatric mental health care, Medicaid behavioral health services and suicide prevention resources for college students.

Building on Democrats' delivery of nearly $4 billion for mental health and substance use services through the American Rescue Plan, the Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act is a critical step in House Democrats' fight to strengthen Americans' access to mental health resources.
This week, the House also passed bipartisan legislation establishing the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). This new independent agency will focus on spurring biomedical innovations and developing transformative breakthroughs in how we detect and treat the deadliest diseases. This legislation builds on President Biden's plan to supercharge the Cancer Moonshot, which aims to cut the nation's cancer death rate by at least 50 percent over the next 25 years.

Honoring Courageous Wildland Firefighters
Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, President Biden and Congressional Democrats have secured historic raises for the men and women who work tirelessly to protect our homes and communities from the dangers of wildfires and the climate crisis. Federal wildland firefighters will receive pay increases equal to $20,000 or 50 percent of their annual base salary, as well as back pay retroactive to October 1, 2021. These actions are a significant step toward a establishing a permanent, competitive and equitable pay structure for these heroic first responders.

Keeping Ahead of COVID in San Francisco
This week, the FDA authorized emergency use of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines for children down to 6 months of age. Most families and caregivers will be able to access vaccines for this age group through their health system providers, pediatricians and select pharmacies.

Starting this week, the San Francisco Department of Public Health will offer COVID-19 vaccines for children down to 6 months of age to families who need them at SFDPH-operated and neighborhood sites.