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Floor Speech

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Mr. WELCH. Mr. President, we have had a dismal history recently with the U.S. Supreme Court. In my view, it has totally failed the American people.

In the name of States' rights, the Supreme Court has taken away freedom and caused distress and uncertainty for women and individuals across the country. It is outrageous that, because of this Court and this decision, people have fewer rights today than they did 50 years ago. Of course, I refer to the Dobbs decision, in which the Supreme Court--to its everlasting shame and in its infamy--took away a constitutional right.

It should be noted that, in a post-Dobbs world, women are leaning on contraceptive care more, and doctors see more demand. That now is threatened. For anyone who read that Dobbs decision and the Thomas concurrence in that decision, he laid it out where he at least intends to go.

There seems to be some confusion among my colleagues across the aisle about what this bill is and how important reproductive healthcare is, and I thank the Presiding Officer for his leadership on this with our colleague from Hawaii.

It is very important as everyone needs access both to whatever birth control options make the most sense to them and access to whatever preventive healthcare makes sense to them. Contraceptives can help prevent and treat medical conditions. This is about ensuring that every person in every ZIP Code has access to the birth control that they need if they need it.

This is the right of women and every individual to make decisions about their bodies and their futures. Politicians should not be involved. The Court shouldn't even be intimating it is threatening to take that away, and this legislation is needed to guarantee that they won't.

After Roe was overturned in June 2022, Vermont voters went to the polls. They took their own liberty into their own hands after not being able to rely on the U.S. Supreme Court to protect it. In article 22 of the Vermont Constitution--a new amendment--it permanently protects reproductive liberties.

It says:

That an individual's right to personal reproductive autonomy is central to the liberty and dignity to determine one's own life course and shall not be denied or infringed unless justified by a compelling State interest achieved by the least restrictive means.

This would stop future anti-choice legislation from advancing in our State of Vermont.

We enacted comprehensive legislation in 2019 in Vermont, under a Republican Governor, that would ``recognize as a fundamental right the freedom of reproductive choice'' and ``prohibit public entities from interfering with or restricting the right of an individual to terminate the individual's pregnancy.''

As far back as 1972, the Vermont Supreme Court became the fourth State in the Nation to legalize abortion. Vermont has a long history of protecting reproductive rights and standing up for the rights of women.

Also, contraception is supported by the American people. It is widely used by women. People who can get pregnant need it and use it. There are 9 out of 10 voters who ``want it to be legal'' and 3 out of 4 who want to have easier access. There are 78 percent who say ``they see it as basic healthcare for women,'' and 72 percent are ``thankful it allows them to manage several health conditions.''

So it is absolutely essential, in the face of the U.S. Supreme Court and what it did to deprive women of their own right to choose by reversing the Roe v. Wade decision that was so enshrined in our law and part of our society for 50 years, that we in the Senate take all action possible to guarantee that women's rights will be protected.

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