Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton walked out of a House hearing on birth control Thursday. Led by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the hearing began with an all-male panel and zero female witnesses. Holmes was incensed after a female Georgetown student, who was planning to testify in support of contraception access, was not allowed to speak, but two more male witnesses were added.
“It appeared the majority was frightened to hear from even one woman,” Norton told Yeas & Nays. The non-voting member felt it was unfair, and a violation of committee procedure. “The hearing had every appearance had every appearance of hearings in autocratic societies,” she said. Holmes added that the issue of accommodating religion is “very important to me” and that “we’ve done that beautifully in this country.” Her concern was that accommodating one person’s religious beliefs on birth control could violate another person’s liberty.
“The quest for the hearing should have been, whose liberty has been violated here?” she said. Holmes was accompanied on her walkout by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill. “I certainly left,” said Holmes. “And I did not go back.”
Two women did end up testifying later during the second panel.
