[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 86 (Wednesday, May 22, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S3026]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Abortion

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise to express my deep concern over the 
constant attacks on women's health we are seeing all across America. 
From this administration's policies, to Donald Trump's judicial 
nominees, to Governors and legislators in States like Alabama, Georgia, 
and Missouri under Republican leadership--they are denying women their 
constitutional right to make their own personal and healthcare 
decisions.
  Women and their healthcare should not be under constant threat. We as 
a nation have made great efforts to promote equal rights for women and 
men. In this Congress, we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of 
women's suffrage. It took a long time for women to get the right to 
vote, and we continue to make progress on equality. Yet, in the 21st 
century, the Trump administration continues to push and adopt policies 
that are setting this country and women in a wrong direction.
  The Supreme Court made it clear in Griswold v. Connecticut and Roe v. 
Wade that there is a constitutional right to privacy that includes 
making healthcare decisions such as the use of contraception and the 
right to access abortion.
  Through advancements in women's health and access to contraception 
and education, the number of unintended pregnancies has significantly 
been reduced, with a corresponding reduction in abortion. Yet we see 
Republican leaders trying to reverse the advancements our Nation has 
made in women's health, access to contraception, and education.
  For nearly 50 years, the Supreme Court has upheld the legal precedent 
of Roe v. Wade, including its affirmation in Planned Parenthood v. 
Casey in 1992. In that case, the Supreme Court held that ``our law 
affords constitutional protection to personal decisions relating to 
marriage . . . contraception, family relationships, child rearing, and 
education. . . . These matters, involving the most intimate and 
personal choices a person may make in a lifetime, choices central to 
personal dignity and autonomy, are central to the liberty protected by 
the Fourteenth Amendment.''
  The Court prohibited States from passing statutes that placed undue 
burdens on a woman's right to make her own healthcare decisions. Yet 
Republican leaders continue to introduce and pass laws that interfere 
with a women's autonomy over her health and well-being.
  Last week, for instance, the Republican Governor of Alabama signed a 
bill into law banning almost all abortions in that State, with no 
exceptions for the cases of rape or incest. The law not only prosecutes 
women, but it also includes unprecedented criminal penalties against 
doctors, threatening them with life in prison for treating women. The 
Alabama law exposes doctors to felony charges punishable by up to 99 
years in prison for providing or attempting to provide an abortion, 
making this the most extreme ban of its kind to pass in nearly 30 
years.
  Since the beginning of 2019, bills attempting to restrict abortion 
have been filed in 45 States, including Alabama, Missouri, and Georgia.
  Earlier this year, Georgia's Republican Governor signed a 6-week ban 
into law that would make it illegal for women to terminate a pregnancy 
and a doctor to perform the termination after a fetal heartbeat is 
detected. I must tell you, many women don't even realize they are 
pregnant at 6 weeks.
  The Alabama and Georgia bills impose burdensome and medically 
unnecessary limitations on women and their doctors, particularly those 
in low-income, medically underserved areas. The bills harm women who 
are victims of sexual assault and minors who are victims of incest. 
These provisions appear to be designed to perpetrate a culture of not 
believing women and trying to discredit the victims of assault.
  It is hard to understand how many Republicans are talking about 
getting Big Government out of people's lives but not when it comes to 
one of the hardest and most intimate decisions a woman can make--a 
decision that she wishes to make between herself and her doctor. In 
those circumstances, these same colleagues believe that Big Government, 
and not the woman herself, knows better. They believe that government, 
and not the woman, should dictate whether she can or cannot have 
control of her own body. They believe that government should have the 
power to force a woman to forgo a medically necessary procedure. They 
believe that women should be stripped of that power and stripped of the 
choice to decide what is best for herself. Many believe that even in 
cases of incest and rape, where the woman is a victim of a crime, that 
the woman should be compelled to bear the child against her will and 
bring the pregnancy to term. Talk about being intrusive.
  Basically, the rights of women are being trampled to death. I thought 
we had gotten beyond that, and now we see that we are moving in the 
wrong direction.
  Empowering women is one of the most important things we can do for 
the future of our country. Core to women's constitutional liberties is 
autonomy over their own health and well-being. If we truly want to 
support women, we need to safeguard and improve, not limit, access to 
comprehensive healthcare.
  I hope we can all agree that on this 100th anniversary of women's 
suffrage, we should be looking at ways to remove discrimination based 
upon sex and not moving in the wrong direction by taking away from 
women their right to make their own healthcare decisions.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.