[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 20 (Tuesday, January 30, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S574-S575]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            VOTE EXPLANATION

  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I offer this statement to ensure the 
record reflects my opposition to the Pain-Capable Unborn Child 
Protection Act, S. 2311, calendar No. 294, as considered by the Senate 
on Monday, January 29, 2018. Cloture was not invoked on the motion to 
proceed to S. 2311 by a vote of 51 to 46. Unfortunately, I was unable 
to be present for the rollcall vote to invoke cloture on this measure 
due to multiple flight delays traveling from Wisconsin to Washington, 
DC.
  I oppose this divisive legislation and would have voted against it, 
as I have previously when I voted against cloture on the motion to 
proceed to this legislation, H.R. 36 when it was considered by the 
Senate on September 22, 2015. Let me be clear: I believe every American 
woman deserves access to quality, safe healthcare and the freedom to 
exercise her individual and constitutional rights to make her own 
private health decisions with her family and her doctor, without 
political interference.
  Too many States have already enacted record numbers of laws that 
restrict a woman's access to reproductive health services and the 
freedom to make her own healthcare decisions. In Wisconsin, numerous 
measures have been signed into law that impose unreasonable 
requirements on providers and clinics that often leave families with 
nowhere to turn and threaten the ability of clinics in my home State to 
keep their doors open. Like the measure before the Senate, introduced 
by Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican politicians in Wisconsin have 
already enacted a 20-week ban on abortion procedures in our state, 
which has real and grave consequences for our families. Politicians are 
doing this because they think they know better than women and their 
doctors. The fact is they don't. It is not the job of politicians to 
play doctor and to dictate how these professionals practice medicine, 
nor is it the job of government to intrude into the private lives and 
important health decisions of American families.
  The threat in Wisconsin and in States across the country is clear: 
When politicians play doctor, American families suffer. This is why my 
good friend and colleague Senator Richard Blumenthal and I have 
introduced the Women's Health Protection Act, S. 510, which would put a 
stop to these attacks on women's freedoms. This measure would prohibit 
laws, including State and local regulations,

[[Page S575]]

which unduly limit access to abortion services, including laws that 
single out providers, close down clinics, and impose onerous 
restrictions that do nothing to further women's health or safety.
  I will continue to work for access to comprehensive reproductive care 
and vote against proposals that threaten a woman's right to make her 
own health decisions.

                          ____________________