[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 37 (Tuesday, February 25, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S1143]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                ABORTION

 Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, today I would like to speak in 
opposition to two dangerous pieces of legislation that were considered 
in the Senate, both of which would severely undermine women's 
constitutional right to safe and legal abortions. One bill, S. 3275, 
the so-called Pain-Capable Unborn Protection Act, would create a 
national 20-week abortion ban, while the other, S. 311, the Born-Alive 
Abortion Survivors Protection Act, would attempt to scare providers who 
perform abortions out of business by subjecting them to penalties or 
even prison.
  Let me be clear. These bills are not about protecting babies. These 
bills are about telling women what they can and cannot do with their 
own bodies and making their own medical decisions for them. Today in 
the United States, we have some of the highest maternal mortality rates 
and infant mortality rates in the developed world. This crisis is only 
worsened by the racial and economic disparities many women face in our 
country, in addition to the reality that some 87 million Americans are 
either uninsured or underinsured. Instead of helping our Nation make 
progress toward eliminating these disparities, such as by guaranteeing 
affordable healthcare, including abortion, as a right, this legislation 
would bring us back to the dark ages when women in America did not have 
the right to control their own bodies. It is a simple reality that, if 
the Senate votes to deny women access to safe and legal abortion, many 
of them will suffer and perhaps even die. I urge my colleagues to 
oppose S. 3275 and S. 311. Thank you.

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