Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I am here to join my colleagues. I was going to say I am pleased, but I am not pleased. I am disappointed that we are here on the floor today talking about something that should be an issue that is decided by women with their families and their physicians. Yet we are here to sound the alarm about the relentless assault State legislatures and this administration have leveled against constitutionally protected reproductive rights and a woman's right to choose the healthcare she needs.

I certainly applaud Senator Murray, who has done such a great job of leading the response to this assault, and my colleague from Oregon, Senator Wyden, for his efforts.

This radical effort to limit women's freedom to a full range of reproductive care is part of a broader strategy by some in this country to take healthcare away from people who need it. Americans across the country, both women and men, are calling out these threats and fighting them head-on. Today, in hundreds of capitals across this country, in courthouses, at hundreds of rallies, a powerful message is being sent that we are not going back. As Members of Congress here in Washington, we need to join them and defend women's reproductive rights.

In just the past 2 weeks, Governors in Alabama and Georgia signed extreme and dangerous abortion restrictions into law. Yesterday, the Missouri Legislature passed another bill to place draconian restrictions on a woman's access to abortion. These actions are part of a concerted effort around the country to overturn Roe v. Wade and to deny women access to reproductive care.

What is so ironic about this is that this is coming at a time when last year this country saw fewer unintended pregnancies than at any time in our history because giving women access to family planning, to the range of reproductive healthcare that women need, means that there are fewer unintended pregnancies. What laws like this will mean is that there will be more abortions, more unintended pregnancies, more maternal health deaths. That is not the direction in which we should be going.

All of these State actions are concerning, especially the new Alabama law, which would outlaw abortion in virtually all instances with no exception for cases of rape or incest. The Alabama law also establishes prison sentences for providers who perform abortions in violation of the abortion ban. So think about that for a second. If a doctor performs an abortion for a rape victim, the Alabama law could put that doctor in prison for as long as or even longer than the rapist. That makes no sense. The Alabama abortion ban, and so many other State laws like it, will not only impede on a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive choices, but it will also push women into the shadows and increase the likelihood of unsafe abortions. We know that. We have data that shows that--not just in the United States but around the world.

Today, one in three women live in States where abortion would be outlawed if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

The Alabama law and other State abortion bans are designed as a direct challenge to the protections provided by Roe in the hopes of forcing action from the Supreme Court and sowing chaos in those States where abortion would be outlawed. So rather than thinking about women and how they will be affected by this law, it is strictly designed to try to challenge the current Roe v. Wade law.

Unfortunately, even in the light of the extreme nature of these recent abortion bans, we have an administration that is compounding the issue through its own actions to interfere with access to reproductive health services. Now, whether it is creating new administrative obstacles to insurance coverage of abortion, preventing title X family planning clinics from informing their patients about reproductive care choices, or any of the many other recent Federal actions, the Trump administration's clear goal is to chip away at access to abortion.

Now, these recent actions by States and the administration pose grave threats to the freedoms and reproductive health protections that are relied on by women all across this country.

At this critical time, we need to say loud and clear that we are ready to fight these extreme actions with everything we have.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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