Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Washington for that personal story, and I am sorry for her loss of a former staff member. I think that story is a good place to start because this isn't just about an isolated bill passing in one State. This is actually part of a greater effort.

As you look at what this administration has been trying to do since day one, defunding Planned Parenthood--OK, well, that is where one out of five women in their lifetime will go to seek healthcare for things like cancer screenings and for things like contraception. You look at the fact that over the span of the last administration, we actually reduced abortions to the lowest level in recorded history. That is a good thing. People who are personally opposed to abortion or people who are pro-choice can agree that that is a good thing. Why did that happen? Because contraception was available. Why did that happen? Because healthcare was available that allowed, with more ease, women to access contraception. So now what do we have? We have three things going on. These restrictive laws that literally put doctors in prison for 99 years is what I will talk about today. We have an effort to defund Planned Parenthood and to reduce access to contraception as a result. Then we have an effort--a major effort--to repeal the entire Affordable Care Act, which would allow women to be kicked off of their healthcare insurance if they have a preexisting condition. Before that act came into law, in eight States, being a victim of domestic abuse was considered a preexisting condition. So do not see these laws that were just passed in these States and are being considered in these States as isolated. Look at it as a complete package, and it is not a package that the women of this country want to get in the mail.

I have always believed that a woman's most personal and difficult medical decisions should be made with her doctor and her family and that those decisions should not be undermined or politicized by Government officials. But that is exactly what we are seeing today. In the last few months, an alarming number of States have passed laws to limit a woman's ability to seek reproductive healthcare services. Kentucky, Ohio, Mississippi, and Georgia have all recently passed measures that basically amount to a ban on abortion. Just last week, Alabama passed a bill that effectively and in writing banned abortion completely. The bill which passed the Alabama State Senate--by the way, without a vote of a single woman senator--would allow a doctor who performed an abortion to be sent to jail for 99 years. The Alabama law's only exception is if a woman's life is at risk. It does not even include an exception for incidents of rape or incest. So what does this mean? Well, if your kid is in college and gets brutally raped, it means that she would not have a choice about whether or not she would carry a baby. That is what that law says in Alabama. And if a doctor intervened, if a doctor wanted to help in that State, he would be sent to prison for 99 years--or up to 99 years. This is not something I am making up or exaggerating; this is what this bill that passed one of the States and is similar to bills in other States actually says.

What we are seeing, of course, is wrong and unconstitutional. These bills directly infringe on a woman's right to make her own medical decisions and the precedent that the Supreme Court set in Roe v. Wade, which has been affirmed many times over the last 46 years.

You wonder where the public is on this? Seventy-three percent of Americans do not believe that Roe v. Wade should be reversed. In my State, I have people who are pro-choice, and I have people who are pro- life. I have people who personally believe they do not want to have an abortion; however, they don't think that their views should dictate what happens to their neighbors. That is the problem. That is the nub of the problem with what is going on in these States.

The precedent in Roe is clear, but these lawmakers have decided that they want to take away a woman's basic right to make a personal healthcare decision. In fact, they are passing these bills with the hope that it goes to the Supreme Court where this administration has placed judges on that Court where there is a lot of hope, with the people who are passing these restrictive laws, that they are going to overturn Roe v. Wade.

After signing the new abortion ban into law, the Governor of Alabama released a statement in which he said the sponsors of this bill believe it is time, once again, for the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit this important matter, and they believe this act may bring about ``the best opportunity for this to occur.''

So don't tell me this is just one legislature deciding they are going to do something other people in this Chamber on the other side of the aisle don't agree with. No. No. No. This has been an effort that has been going on for years. This is an effort that is going on during an administration with a President that, in a townhall meeting in March of 2016, said that he thought women should be punished for making that decision. A few hours later, his campaign tries to dial it back with the statement: No, he meant that doctors should be punished.

This is not just an isolated incident, which is why so many of my colleagues have taken to the floor today. We can have individual disagreements, and we can have our own personal beliefs, but as elected officials, we must follow the Constitution of the United States. Overturning Roe isn't just unconstitutional. As I said, it is against the wishes of the vast majority of the people in this country.

In the last few years, as I have noted, we have seen an assault on women's access to care. We have seen it with the attempt to defund Planned Parenthood, even though, during the Obama administration, we saw a historic decrease in abortions. According to a CDC study conducted between 2006 and 2015, abortion rates fell to historic lows near the end of the Obama administration.

What should we be doing? Well, we should be providing more access to healthcare services, comprehensive health education, and contraception, not less. We should ensure that women are equipped with the knowledge and resources they need to make informed healthcare decisions.

In the Senate, I have fought back against efforts to undermine the ability of a woman to make choices about her own health. I have cosponsored the Women's Health Protection Act, important legislation led by Senator Blumenthal, to prohibit laws intended to restrict women's access to reproductive health services, and I look forward to cosponsoring this bill again when it is reintroduced.

I thank Senator Murray for her leadership over her many, many years in this area. It is our responsibility to treat women in every State in this Union with respect and dignity, instead of using them as political pawns.

I join my colleagues in condemning these recent efforts to restrict women's access to healthcare services, and I will continue working to protect the health and lives of women across the country.

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