[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 77 (Monday, May 9, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2372-S2373]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Business Before the Senate

  Mr. SCHUMER. Now, Madam President, I have just filed cloture on the 
Women's Health Protection Act. This week, the Senate will be confronted 
with a simple but urgent question: Do women in this country have a 
basic right to make their own choices when it comes to seeking an 
abortion, yes or no? It will be one of the most important questions 
this Chamber confronts in decades because, for the first time in 50 
years, women in America face the real possibility of living in a world 
where the protections of Roe v. Wade are a thing of the past. It will 
set up a situation where our children, female children, have less 
rights than their grandparents--something that is so un-American, 
taking away rights, stepping backward from rights in such a dramatic 
way.
  So, tonight, I will set up a vote for Wednesday on legislation that 
will codify the fundamental right to an abortion into Federal law. 
Every American is going to see where every Senator stands on protecting 
one of the most important rights a woman has regarding her own body.
  I want to be clear. This week's vote is not an abstract exercise; 
this is as real and as high stakes as it gets. And Senate Republicans 
will no longer be able to hide from the horror they have unleashed upon 
women in America. After spending years packing our courts with 
rightwing judges and Justices, after changing the rules of the Senate 
to push three rigidly conservative Justices, after stealing the 
nomination of Merrick Garland, the time has come for Republicans, this 
new MAGA Republican Party, to answer for their actions.
  If Senate Republicans allow the Supreme Court's decision to stand, it 
will be open season--open season--on women's rights in America.
  A few days ago, Leader McConnell himself acknowledged that a Federal 
ban on abortions is now possible should the Supreme Court overturn Roe 
and Republicans take control of the Senate.
  Let me say that again because it is so dreadful. In light of the 
Supreme Court's decision--upcoming decision--Leader McConnell 
acknowledged that a national ban on abortion is now possible without 
Roe if Republicans reclaim the majority.
  Hear that, America? A total ban--a total national ban on abortion, 
stated by not any Republican but by the Republican leader. Every single 
American needs to hear what Leader McConnell said.
  For years--for decades--Republicans have tried to disguise their 
hostility to abortion by claiming that all they really want is to let 
the States decide for themselves how they will treat the issue. It is 
an old claim from the right: This is about States' rights. This 
argument has always been hypocritical, and Leader McConnell's comments 
make it perfectly clear why.
  The game here is not about States' rights; the goal has always been a 
national ban on abortions altogether. States' rights is a smokescreen, 
nothing more than a distraction, a ruse to hide from the true claims of 
the hard right, of the MAGA Republicans: a national ban on abortion.
  A Federal restriction on abortion would be among the most extreme 
ideas ever pushed by Senate Republicans, but in light of Roe's repeal, 
it seems that is the road the MAGA Republicans want to take our country 
down. And as scary as that is, I feel it is just the start. Ideas that 
have long been relegated to the fringes will return to the forefront 
with a vengeance--forced pregnancies, bans that make zero exceptions 
for rape and incest, even imprisonment for abortion providers and women 
who seek them--imprisonment for women who seek them, which is already 
happening with some State laws.
  Republicans are trying in vain to obscure this reality. Last week, 
the chair of the Senate Republican campaign arm went as far as 
releasing an absurd collection of talking points trying to convince 
Americans that, no, Republicans don't want to throw doctors and women 
in jail for carrying out abortions.
  The Republicans should know their position is truly extreme when that 
has to be one of their talking points. Oh, no, we don't want to throw 
women in jail. But regardless of what Republicans or the head of the 
Senate Republican campaign committee might try and claim, the laws 
being passed at the State level tell a different, much darker story 
that totally contradicts what he says.
  In Arizona, for example, there is a law on the books that states that 
anyone who performs an abortion could be sentenced to anywhere from 2 
to 5 years in prison. The new law in Arizona provides zero exceptions 
for rape and for incest.
  In Oklahoma, a new law just came into effect banning abortion as 
early as 6 weeks and, like the law in Texas, empowers citizens to 
police each other's conduct and sue women simply trying to access an 
abortion and, again, zero exceptions for rape, zero exceptions for 
incest. If, God forbid, a woman is raped and doesn't want to have 
that child, the Republicans want to allow some of them to go to jail 
and some of them to be sued by their fellow citizens. Is that

[[Page S2373]]

a disgrace? Is that scary? Does that say we all must fight this tooth 
and nail?

  Now Republicans in Louisiana are even pushing a bill that could throw 
women and their healthcare providers in prison for life--for life.
  This is the America that Senate Republicans have made possible--an 
America where women in many States could be forced to follow through on 
their pregnancies against their will; an America where abortions can be 
all but eliminated in more than half the States in the country; an 
America where many States provide zero exceptions for something as evil 
as rape or incest. These laws could put women and girls in serious 
danger. And none of this is theoretical anymore; it is written into the 
veracity of the laws that have been passed by the hard right at the 
State level. And we know more are coming.
  All of this I bring to the feet of my Senate colleagues as we prepare 
to vote later this week. No more running. No more hiding. No more 
diversions. Leader McConnell can't talk about the actual effects of the 
law except when he made that one statement. Always diversions. Always 
about ``Oh, look what they are doing'' because they don't want the 
American people to know how hard right, how fiercely anti-women, how 
vicious some of their laws are.
  I ask my colleagues to think carefully about their choice later this 
week. No more running. No more hiding. The vote will shine light on 
every single one of us. It will be like a floodlight, and we will each 
have to make our positions clear.
  Again, I ask my colleagues to think carefully about their choice 
later this week because the consequences of this vote will stay with us 
for the rest of our time in office. The Nation will be watching. The 
rights of millions of American women are at stake, and they will be 
watching. And there will be no hiding from where each of us stands on 
this most precious, most private, most personal decision that women 
ever have had to make when it comes to their own lives.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.