[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 79 (Wednesday, May 11, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2429-S2430]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Women's Health Protection Act

  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I come to the floor today at a pivotal 
time for women's rights in this country. I want to thank Senators 
Blumenthal and Murray and many others, including Senator Baldwin, for 
their leadership on this issue and on the Women's Health Protection 
Act.
  We learned last week that it is very likely that the Supreme Court 
will overrule Roe v. Wade. The leaked opinion made it clear. It means 
the Supreme Court is on track to completely overrule Roe, stripping 
women of their constitutional right to seek an abortion. It will also 
be, I note, against the wishes of the somewhere between 70 and 80 
percent of Americans who believe that this is a decision that should be 
made between a woman and her doctor--not with Senator Cruz, not a bunch 
of politicians in Washington, but a decision that should be made 
between a woman and her doctor.
  Fifty years stripped away of women's rights, and the fall will be 
swift. Over 20 States already have laws in place that could be used to 
restrict access, including 13 which will automatically go into effect 
if the Supreme Court issues the decision. We have also seen States 
preparing to take even more extreme steps if Roe is overturned. Last 
week, Republican lawmakers in Louisiana advanced a bill to immediately 
classify abortion as homicide and allow the State to prosecute women--
prosecute women--for receiving care. Earlier this year, a bill was 
introduced by Republican legislators in Missouri to allow private 
citizens to sue people who help women leave the State to get care. This 
comes on top of the 19 States that already have laws in place to ban or 
restrict access to medication abortion.
  What this all comes down to is a fundamental question: Who is making 
these personal decisions--politicians or a woman? And are women equal 
citizens under the law? If Roe is overturned, women in this country 
will receive different treatment under the law than men, and our access 
to critical care will be at the mercy of a patchwork of laws.
  We have all seen what happens on the ground when these kinds of 
restrictions are enacted. Texas's law last year denies access to at 
least 85 percent of patients seeking abortion-related services. Some 
women in Texas have had to drive nearly 250 miles one way to get care. 
No one should have to take a bus across the country to make a personal 
healthcare decision. A woman in Louisiana or in Missouri or in Texas 
should not be treated differently than a woman in Minnesota.
  While we are all deeply disturbed by the impact this decision will 
have on women and the men who stand with them, unfortunately, many of 
us have seen this coming. Republicans have been methodically preparing 
for this moment, stacking the courts with judges who want to overturn 
Roe and introducing over 500 bills in States across the country 
limiting access to care.
  While this is still a draft decision, I am seriously concerned that 
the Court's apparent willingness to disregard nearly 50 years of rights 
will not only put women's health at risk but will undermine the rule of 
law.
  This draft leaked opinion brings us back to the fifties. The issue 
is, we always thought it would be the 1950s when it is truly the 1850s. 
The people of this country do not want to go backwards when it comes to 
their freedoms, because that is what this is about--their freedom to 
make their own decisions.
  So what can the Senate do in the face of this threat to freedom? All 
three branches of the government have a responsibility to protect 
people's rights, and if one branch doesn't do its job--that is how this 
system was set up constitutionally--then it is up to another to step 
in.
  Congress must act to codify the principles of Roe v. Wade into law, 
and we

[[Page S2430]]

will have the opportunity to do just that on the floor today when we 
cast our votes on the Women's Health Protection Act. These protections 
are desperately needed, and it is our responsibility to take action so 
that this fundamental right remains real for the women and the men who 
stand with them across this country.
  Freedom and equality under the law, for the first time in 
generations--and I want young people out there to think about this--we 
may live in a world where women have fewer rights than their moms or 
their grandmas. That is not the world we want.
  I urge my colleagues to stand up with the majority of Americans who 
support a women's right to make her own healthcare decision, the 
freedom to make her decision, by enshrining the protections of Roe v. 
Wade into law.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.