[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 79 (Wednesday, May 11, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2425-S2426]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Women's Health Protection Act

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, before the day is over, every Member of 
this body will make a choice: vote to protect the fundamental rights of 
women across the country or stand with five conservative Justices ready 
to destroy these rights in one fell swoop.
  For half a century, Roe v. Wade has been the bedrock upon which women 
have secured the freedom to make their own decisions when it comes to 
their bodies. Few questions are more personal, more private, and more 
complicated than those involving a pregnancy. Few decisions should be 
more out of bounds to the whims and judgments of elected politicians, 
but that is precisely the doomsday scenario that now faces our country.
  Today's vote is one of the most consequential we will take in decades 
because for the first time in 50 years, a conservative majority--an 
extreme majority--on the Supreme Court is on the brink of declaring 
that women do not have freedom over their own bodies--one of the 
longest steps back in the Court's entire history; a decision, if 
enacted, that will go down as one of the worst Court decisions ever. 
The name of the decision will live in infamy.
  This morning, reports came out that the draft decision of last week 
remains the only one under discussion by the Court's conservatives. If 
the Supreme Court follows through on that decision, it will be the 
greatest contraction of individual rights in generations. Our children 
will grow up in a world where they have fewer liberties than those who 
came before them. The United States, which has always aspired to expand 
freedoms, will take a shameful step backward. As I said, this decision 
will live in infamy.
  So when we say that today's vote is one of the most important we have 
taken in decades, when we say it is not an abstract or theoretical 
exercise, when we say the consequences would be real and immediate and 
far-reaching, it is the truth.
  At least 80 million women live in States that would either instantly 
or very quickly ban abortions should Roe come to an end. If you are a 
woman seeking an abortion, a provider administering one, or even a 
friend giving a ride to a clinic, you could be prosecuted as a criminal 
and be thrown in jail. This is not an exaggeration; it is

[[Page S2426]]

already being proposed by many legislatures and in some cases is 
already the law on the books. If, God forbid, you are the victim of 
rape or incest, in many States, you discover that the laws in place 
could force you to carry your pregnancy to term against your will.
  This is a cruel, repressive, and dangerous vision for our country, 
but it is precisely the future that MAGA Republicans are working 
toward. It is precisely the outcome that extreme Republicans have 
planned for.
  For years, Senate Republicans rubberstamped one extreme judge after 
another, plucked right out of the Federalist Society list, with the 
admitted goal to ``pick away at Roe v. Wade,'' as Leader McConnell 
stated. Without Senate Republicans skewing our courts to the hard 
right, Roe would not be on the brink of extinction.
  At the State level, radical MAGA Republicans have pushed or enacted 
restrictions that ban abortions as early as 6 weeks, ban abortions with 
no exceptions for rape or incest, criminalize women and doctors, and 
prevent other States from offering reproductive care. The immensely 
cruel law in Texas could even punish doctors who prescribe certain 
drugs to women in cases of a miscarriage.
  It gets worse. It gets worse. Leader McConnell says that under a 
Republican Senate, a national ban on abortion is ``possible'' without 
Roe. Let that sink in, America. A national ban on abortion is the 
extreme of extremes, and it is now possible in a Republican Senate, 
according to Leader McConnell. Americans should listen to that.
  For the hard right, this has never been about States' rights. This 
has never been about letting Texas choose its own path while California 
takes another. Those arguments have now been exposed for what they are: 
hypocrisy. For MAGA Republicans, this has always been about making 
abortion illegal everywhere, about making the bans in Texas apply 
equally to New York and California and Minnesota and everywhere in 
between.
  For all the times we heard Republicans oppose expanding healthcare 
because ``the American people want healthcare decisions left up to 
their family and doctors,'' the same hard-right radicals are now 
telling American women: Healthcare decisions will now be made by 
politicians and judges, not doctors, not families. MAGA Republicans are 
telling American women: Your body, our choice.
  These laws are far outside the mainstream of the country. According 
to a poll released this morning by POLITICO and Morning Consult, just 
28 percent of voters support overturning Roe v. Wade. Nearly 75 percent 
of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, oppose the radical 
notion of imprisoning women who receive an abortion. Nearly 60 percent 
of Americans say they want political candidates to support access to 
abortion. That is why this issue will be one of the most important 
issues facing the voters in November.
  As Americans make their decisions in this year's election, this 
question will not go away. Americans strongly oppose getting rid of 
Roe, and they will be paying close attention from now until November to 
Republicans who are responsible for its demise.
  So to my Republican colleagues who have spent the last week trying to 
talk about anything other than Roe, it is time to go on record.
  I ask my colleagues to think carefully about their vote and to reckon 
deeply about the consequences of a world where Roe is a thing of the 
past. Tens of millions of women are watching what will happen to the 
rights they have relied on for decades, and all of us will have to 
answer for this vote for the rest of our time in public office.

  Before the day is over, every Member of this body will make a choice: 
Stand with women to protect their freedoms or stand with MAGA 
Republicans and take our country into a dark and repressive future.