[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 114 (Tuesday, July 12, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3218-S3219]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           U.S. Supreme Court

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, on June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court 
overturned Roe v. Wade, returning the question of abortion to the 
States and to the people and their elected representatives.
  The Supreme Court's decision was an affirmation of democracy, which 
had been set aside by Roe in favor of a national abortion regime 
imposed upon the entire country by a handful of activist Justices. Roe 
took legislative power out of the hands of the people and put it in the 
hands of unelected Justices on nonexistent constitutional grounds. The 
Supreme Court's decision puts the question of abortion back in the 
hands of the States and the people and their elected representatives, 
where it should always have been.
  I am profoundly grateful for this decision, most especially because 
of what is at stake here, because the Roe decision was not a failure of 
constitutional jurisprudence on some arcane point; it was a failure 
that infringed on our most fundamental rights as human beings--in fact, 
on the fundamental right: the right to life.
  Roe not only allowed for but imposed a regime that forced States to 
legalize the killing of unborn human beings. So the decision to 
overturn Roe not only affirms democracy and repairs a constitutional 
wrong, it allows for the righting of a profound moral wrong: the legal 
killing of unborn Americans.
  The Supreme Court's decision does not, of course, make abortion 
illegal, but it will finally--finally--allow those States to choose to 
put in place protections for unborn children.

[[Page S3219]]

  Since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion through all 9 months of 
pregnancy, more than 63 million children have been killed in this 
country by abortion--63 million. It is an unfathomable number and, 
frankly, a heartbreaking number. To put it into some kind of 
perspective, that is more than twice the population of the State of 
Texas and more than 70 times the population of my home State of South 
Dakota. Sixty-three million. Sixty-three million unique, unrepeatable 
human beings--future doctors and nurses and farmers and teachers and 
busdrivers and plumbers and scientists. That is a lot of innocent lives 
lost.
  And, yes, when we talk about unborn babies, we are talking about 
human lives. Members of the pro-abortion left would like to obscure 
this fact, but science and medical technology and plain old common 
sense, I would add, all clearly demonstrate the humanity of the unborn 
child. Every mom who has ever felt her unborn baby kick is well aware 
that she isn't just carrying around a clump of cells, and ultrasound 
technology and medical advancements have made the humanity of the 
unborn child even more undeniable. It is impossible to hear the 
heartbeat of an unborn child at 6 weeks and say that he or she is not 
alive. It is impossible to look at an unborn baby on an ultrasound 
kicking her feet and moving her hands and sucking her thumb and to 
pretend that she is anything but a human being. And human beings 
deserve to be protected.
  Democrats' response to the Dobbs decision has been predictably 
hysterical. We have heard cries to pack the Supreme Court because 
apparently the only legitimate Supreme Court is a Supreme Court that 
rules in line with Democrats' policy preferences. We have heard cries 
to abolish the filibuster and to eliminate protections for the minority 
party in the Senate and the Americans whom it represents. We have heard 
a proposal to establish abortion facilities in national parks.
  I am struggling to think of any family who wants an abortion facility 
to be part of the itinerary offered on their trip to Yellowstone or the 
Badlands of South Dakota; but, apparently, some Democrats think our 
national parks should become abortion factories.
  Then, of course, there is the flood of misinformation out there 
falsely suggesting that pro-life laws would prevent women from getting 
essential medical care for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies. And on 
top of all this, multiple Democrats have started a crusade against 
pregnancy resource centers. That is right. Pregnancy resource centers--
which were established to provide moms in need with things like diapers 
and baby clothes, prenatal and parenting classes, help connecting with 
State and local resources, emotional support, and agency referrals for 
moms who want to choose adoption--are now under attack by members of 
the Democratic Party.
  Apparently, the pro-choice party can't stand the idea that women 
might be offered a choice other than abortion.
  When the Dobbs decision was handed down, the President called it a 
sad day for our country--a sad day. To the President and his party, 
apparently it is a sad day when the doors open to greater protection 
for human life and human rights. I would say that it is a sad day when 
the right to kill unborn human beings has become the signature issue of 
the Democratic Party, when the party that portrays itself as the 
defender of the little guy has become the party that wants to deny even 
the smallest protection to the littlest guys and girls among us.
  The Democrats' vision of America is not my vision of America. I 
believe that America is big enough to take care of both moms and their 
babies. We don't have to pit moms and babies against each other. We can 
take care of them both. It is something the pro-life movement has been 
focused on for years and something that a number of States have worked 
to do with their Alternatives to Abortion programs. And I know that 
commitment will only grow in the wake of the Dobbs decision.
  Those who seek to deny human rights to some human beings are never 
found to be on the right side of history, as our Nation knows, to its 
sorrow. Our country was founded to protect human rights--the right to 
life, to liberty, and to the pursuit of happiness; but for almost 50 
years now, our country has failed to protect the human rights of unborn 
human beings.
  Today, thanks to the Dobbs decision, we have a chance to change that. 
We have a chance to build a society where the life of every American is 
valued and where being small and vulnerable does not mean that your 
human rights are any less respected. At our best, we are a country that 
defends human rights, not denies them. We stand up for the innocent. We 
protect them. We fight for them. It is time to live up to that.
  The Dobbs decision gives us a chance to protect the human rights of 
the smallest and most innocent humans among us, but the Dobbs decision 
would never have happened without the tireless work of so many since 
the day Roe v. Wade was decided. It would never have happened without 
those who prayed, who offered help to moms in need, who fought for the 
rights of unborn Americans in elections, in courts, and in State 
legislatures.
  ``Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,'' it says in 
the book of Proverbs, and for 50 years that is what members of the pro-
life movement have done. And it is their work that has brought us to 
this day when we finally, once again, have a chance to protect innocent 
unborn Americans in law. May the Lord reward their work and their wages 
be full from the Lord.
  I know that sometimes it seemed like the day when Roe v. Wade would 
be overturned would never come, but it is here. And while there is 
still much work to be done to ensure that the human rights of unborn 
Americans are respected and that moms and their babies have the support 
they need, it is, nevertheless, a moment for joy and for gratitude. I 
am profoundly grateful for this decision, profoundly grateful that we 
now have the opportunity to move closer to the day when we fully live 
up to our founding principles and ensure that every American--born or 
unborn--has the opportunity for life, for liberty, and the pursuit of 
happiness.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Texas.