[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 43 (Thursday, April 6, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3242-S3243]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. BOXER (for herself, Mrs. Feinstein, Mrs. Murray, Ms. 
        Mikulski, Mr. Lautenberg, Ms. Stabenow, and Ms. Cantwell):
  S. 2593. A bill to protect, consistent with Roe v. Wade, a woman's 
freedom 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 introducing the Freedom of 
Choice Act. When the Supreme Court issued its landmark Roe v. Wade 
decision in 1973, it made clear that our Constitutional right to 
privacy grants women the freedom to choose whether to begin, prevent, 
or continue a pregnancy.
  The purpose of this bill is very simple: It ensures that the 
guarantees of Roe v. Wade will be there for every generation of women.
  We know what Roe has meant for women these past 33 years. It has 
allowed them to make their most personal and difficult reproductive 
decisions in consultation with loved ones and health care providers. It 
has given them the dignity to plan their own families and the ability 
to participate fully in the economic and social life of our country. 
And, most important, it has preserved health and saved lives.
  Many of us are old enough to remember what it was like in the days 
before Roe. More than a million women a year were forced to seek 
illegal abortions, pushed into the back alleys where they risked 
infection, hemorrhage, disfiguration, and death. Some estimate that 
thousands of women died every year because of illegal abortions before 
Roe.
  When the Senate debated the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Alito, 
women wrote to me with their own heart-breaking stories. For one woman, 
the year was 1956. She was only four when her mother died of an illegal 
abortion performed with a coat hanger. Too scared to ask for help, her 
mother bled to death at work.
  Another woman wrote to me about how hard her mother and father 
struggled during the depression, how they worked day and night to make 
ends meet and support their two children. When her mother found out she 
was pregnant again, she had health problems, and she knew she couldn't 
take care of another child. She made the very difficult decision to get 
an illegal abortion. The procedure left her bleeding for weeks, and she 
almost died.
  Mr. President, the American people do not want us to go back to those 
dark days. In a recent CNN poll, 66 percent said they do not want Roe 
overturned. Yet there is a dangerous movement afoot to overrule Roe 
and, in the meantime, to severely undermine its promises.
  Make no mistake: The threat to Roe is real and immediate. President 
Bush has already put two anti-choice justices on the Supreme Court, 
where reproductive freedom now hangs by a thread. More than 450 anti-
choice measures have been enacted by the states since 1995.
  Recently, South Dakota enacted a ban on abortion in nearly all 
circumstances, even when a woman's health is at stake, even when she is 
the victim of rape and incest. And South Dakota is not alone. Several 
other states are considering similar bans.
  The extremists behind these abortion bans make no secret about their 
goal. They want to use these laws to overturn Roe, and they think that 
the changes on the Supreme Court give them a chance to do just that.
  We must act now. That is why I am introducing legislation today to 
protect the reproductive freedom of women across America.
  The Freedom of Choice Act writes Roe v. Wade into federal law. It 
says that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to bear a 
child; to terminate a pregnancy before fetal viability; or, if 
necessary to protect the health or life of the mother, after viability. 
It says that we will not turn back the clock on the health and rights 
of women. And it says that we will take steps--as a Congress and as a 
country--to safeguard the dignity, privacy, and health of women now and 
for generations to come.
  I thank the cosponsors of this legislation, and I ask all my 
colleagues who support Roe v. Wade to join us in making sure that it is 
the law of the land, and I ask unanimous consent that the text of the 
bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 2593

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Freedom of Choice Act''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds the following:
       (1) The United States was founded on core principles, such 
     as liberty, personal privacy, and equality, which ensure that 
     individuals are free to make their most intimate decisions 
     without governmental interference and discrimination.
       (2) One of the most private and difficult decisions an 
     individual makes is whether to begin, prevent, continue, or 
     terminate a pregnancy. Those reproductive health decisions 
     are best made by women, in consultation with their loved ones 
     and health care providers.
       (3) In 1965, in Griswold v. Connecticut (381 U.S. 479), and 
     in 1973, in Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 113) and Doe v. Bolton (410 
     U.S. 179), the Supreme Court recognized that the right to 
     privacy protected by the Constitution encompasses the right 
     of every woman to weigh the personal, moral, and religious 
     considerations involved in deciding whether to begin, 
     prevent, continue, or terminate a pregnancy.
       (4) The Roe v. Wade decision carefully balances the rights 
     of women to make important reproductive decisions with the 
     State's interest in potential life. Under Roe v. Wade and Doe 
     v. Bolton, the right to privacy protects a woman's decision 
     to choose to terminate her pregnancy prior to fetal 
     viability, with the State permitted to ban abortion after 
     fetal viability except when necessary to protect a woman's 
     life or health.
       (5) These decisions have protected the health and lives of 
     women in the United States. Prior to the Roe v. Wade decision 
     in 1973, an estimated 1,200,000 women each year were forced 
     to resort to illegal abortions, despite the risk of 
     unsanitary conditions, incompetent treatment, infection, 
     hemorrhage, disfiguration, and death. Before Roe, it is 
     estimated that thousands of women died annually in the United 
     States as a result of illegal abortions.
       (6) In countries in which abortion remains illegal, the 
     risk of maternal mortality is high. According to the World 
     Health Organization, of the approximately 600,000 pregnancy-
     related deaths occurring annually around the world, 80,000 
     are associated with unsafe abortions.
       (7) The Roe v. Wade decision also expanded the 
     opportunities for women to participate equally in society. In 
     1992, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (505 U.S. 833), the 
     Supreme Court observed that, ``[t]he ability of women to 
     participate equally in the economic and social life of the 
     Nation has been facilitated by their ability to control their 
     reproductive lives.''.
       (8) Even though the Roe v. Wade decision has stood for more 
     than 30 years, there are increasing threats to reproductive 
     health and freedom emerging from all branches and levels of 
     government. In 2006, South Dakota became the first State in 
     more than 15 years to enact a ban on abortion in nearly all 
     circumstances. Supporters of this ban have admitted it is an 
     attempt to directly challenge Roe in the courts. Other States 
     are considering similar bans.
       (9) Legal and practical barriers to the full range of 
     reproductive services endanger women's health and lives. 
     Incremental restrictions on the right to choose imposed by 
     Congress and State legislatures have made access to abortion 
     care extremely difficult, if not impossible, for many women 
     across the

[[Page S3243]]

     country. Currently, 87 percent of the counties in the United 
     States have no abortion provider.
       (10) While abortion should remain safe and legal, women 
     should also have more meaningful access to family planning 
     services that prevent unintended pregnancies, thereby 
     reducing the need for abortion.
       (11) To guarantee the protections of Roe v. Wade, Federal 
     legislation is necessary.
       (12) Although Congress may not create constitutional rights 
     without amending the Constitution, Congress may, where 
     authorized by its enumerated powers and not prohibited by the 
     Constitution, enact legislation to create and secure 
     statutory rights in areas of legitimate national concern.
       (13) Congress has the affirmative power under section 8 of 
     article I of the Constitution and section 5 of the 14th 
     amendment to the Constitution to enact legislation to 
     facilitate interstate commerce and to prevent State 
     interference with interstate commerce, liberty, or equal 
     protection of the laws.
       (14) Federal protection of a woman's right to choose to 
     prevent or terminate a pregnancy falls within this 
     affirmative power of Congress, in part, because--
       (A) many women cross State lines to obtain abortions and 
     many more would be forced to do so absent a constitutional 
     right or Federal protection;
       (B) reproductive health clinics are commercial actors that 
     regularly purchase medicine, medical equipment, and other 
     necessary supplies from out-of-State suppliers; and
       (C) reproductive health clinics employ doctors, nurses, and 
     other personnel who travel across State lines in order to 
     provide reproductive health services to patients.

     SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act:
       (1) Government.--The term ``government'' includes a branch, 
     department, agency, instrumentality, or official (or other 
     individual acting under color of law) of the United States, a 
     State, or a subdivision of a State.
       (2) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the States, 
     the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 
     and each territory or possession of the United States.
       (3) Viability.--The term ``viability'' means that stage of 
     pregnancy when, in the best medical judgment of the attending 
     physician based on the particular medical facts of the case 
     before the physician, there is a reasonable likelihood of the 
     sustained survival of the fetus outside of the woman.

     SEC. 4. INTERFERENCE WITH REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PROHIBITED.

       (a) Statement of Policy.--It is the policy of the United 
     States that every woman has the fundamental right to choose 
     to bear a child, to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal 
     viability, or to terminate a pregnancy after fetal viability 
     when necessary to protect the life or health of the woman.
       (b) Prohibition of Interference.--A government may not--
       (1) deny or interfere with a woman's right to choose--
       (A) to bear a child;
       (B) to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability; or
       (C) to terminate a pregnancy after viability where 
     termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the 
     woman; or
       (2) discriminate against the exercise of the rights set 
     forth in paragraph (1) in the regulation or provision of 
     benefits, facilities, services, or information.
       (c) Civil Action.--An individual aggrieved by a violation 
     of this section may obtain appropriate relief (including 
     relief against a government) in a civil action.

     SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY.

       If any provision of this Act, or the application of such 
     provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be 
     unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act, or the 
     application of such provision to persons or circumstances 
     other than those as to which the provision is held to be 
     unconstitutional, shall not be affected thereby.

     SEC. 6. RETROACTIVE EFFECT.

       This Act applies to every Federal, State, and local 
     statute, ordinance, regulation, administrative order, 
     decision, policy, practice, or other action enacted, adopted, 
     or implemented before, on, or after the date of enactment of 
     this Act.
                                 ______