[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 3 (Thursday, January 22, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S186-S187]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. BOXER (for herself, Mr. Corzine, Mrs. Murray, Mr. 
        Lautenberg, Mrs. Clinton, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. 
        Lieberman, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Sarbanes, and Ms. Mikulski):
  S. 2020. A bill to prohibit, consistent with Roe v. Wade, the 
interference by the government with a woman's right to choose to bear a 
child or terminate a pregnancy, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, today, I am proud to introduce the Freedom 
of Choice Act.

[[Page S187]]

  Thirty-one years ago, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in 
Roe v. Wade. It was a monumental day for women because for the first 
time, a woman's right to choose whether or not to continue a pregnancy 
was protected under the constitutional right to privacy. Roe v. Wade 
has kept women from being forced to continue pregnancies that could 
endanger their health or render them infertile. And for the past 31 
years, countless lives have been saved by getting women out of back 
alleys and into safe, clean and legally protected facilities. That is 
why I have been fighting throughout my adult life to protect the right 
to choose.
  However, women's reproductive rights are rapidly eroding. And anti-
choice advocates make no secret that their ultimate goal is to overturn 
Roe v. Wade. With just a one-vote margin protecting Roe in the Supreme 
Court, we cannot afford to take these fundamental rights for granted. 
The threats we face to our right to choose are real and dangerous.
  That is why I am introducing new Federal legislation that will 
protect a woman's right to choose. The Freedom of Choice Act of 2004 
would establish a statutory right to choose within the same parameters 
articulated by the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade. Under the bill, women 
would have the absolute right to choose whether to continue or 
terminate their pregnancies before fetal viability. The bill also 
supersedes any law, regulation or local ordinance that impinges on a 
woman's right to choose and prohibits federal and state governments 
from discriminating against women, who exercise their right to choose.
  That means a poor woman cannot be denied the use of Medicaid if she 
chooses to have an abortion. That means that abortions cannot be 
prohibited at public hospitals, thus giving women more options. That 
means that we respect a woman's ability to make her own decision and 
don't force women to attend anti-choice propaganda lectures, which 
submit women to misleading information, the purpose of which is to 
discourage abortion. That means that women serving our country in the 
military overseas would be able to afford safe abortions that can be 
performed in a military hospital.
  We need to take steps to secure our right to choose. Anti-choice is 
anti-woman and anti-equality, and it demonstrates a lack of respect for 
the intelligence and compassion that women possess.
  I thank the 10 cosponsors of this legislation--Senators Lautenberg, 
Corzine, Murray, Clinton, Jeffords, Lieberman, Cantwell, Feinstein, 
Sarbanes and Mikulski--and I encourage all my colleagues to join this 
effort to write Roe v. Wade into Federal law.
                                 ______