Committee member warns repeal of FACE Act could enable blockades at hospitals, cites Dobbs-era abortion bans

A lawmaker on the committee said opponents of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act are seeking its repeal in order to "directly blockade hospitals and medical clinics." The committee member argued that such repeal would remove legal protections that currently deter or criminalize obstructive actions at health‑care facilities.

The committee member, identified in the transcript only by role, framed the warning in the context of the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision, saying that "since, the Dobbs decision, 21 states now have a total or substantial ban on abortion affecting the rights directly of 29,000,000 American women," and that "at least 169,000 of them have had to cross state lines in interstate commerce in order to seek the medical attention that they need." The speaker linked those consequences to a renewed push against the FACE Act and urged opponents to pursue lawsuits rather than legislative repeal, saying, "go ahead and bring another failed lawsuit against the FACE Act."

The remarks combined criticism of political rhetoric with a policy argument about access to care: the speaker began by criticizing recent public comments about religious figures and public figures and then used that backdrop to defend the FACE Act. The transcript does not record a response from other committee members, a bill number, a motion, or a vote on the matter.

No formal action on the FACE Act or on any related statute was recorded in the provided transcript excerpt. The committee member's statements, including the numerical claims about states and counts of affected women and cross‑state travel, are presented in the transcript as assertions by the speaker and are not adjudicated or supplemented with citations in this excerpt.