1. United States
2. Pa.
3. Letter

Today I urge you to oppose the confirmation of Dr. Erica Schwartz as Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During her HELP Committee hearing, she committed to Senator Hawley that she would pursue mandatory abortion surveillance data from states, abandoning a CDC policy of voluntary reporting that has stood for over 50 years. That alone disqualifies her. Her comments on emergency abortion care are just as alarming. She suggested the CDC needs to identify "true abortions" being hidden inside emergency care reporting, a term with no basis in law or medicine. This comes as hospitals are already turning away patients in dangerous pregnancy complications following the Trump administration's rescission of EMTALA guidance. Women with pregnancy complications are dying or losing their ability to have future pregnancies due to inadequate care! A CDC Director who casts doubt on the legitimacy of emergency abortion care will deepen that confusion and cost lives. The CDC exists to protect public health, not to advance an ideological agenda. With maternal mortality rates already exceptionally high, particularly for Black women, and one in five people forced to travel out of state for abortion care post-Dobbs, this is not the moment to confirm a director who has signaled she will expand surveillance. We are no longer a first world nation when women are dying due to inadequate OBGYN care. Dr Schwartz is the wrong person to lead the CDC. Vote NO.