[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 118 (Monday, July 18, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3322-S3323]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Abortion

  Madam President, in the weeks since the Alito-Thomas Supreme Court 
majority erased the constitutional right to abortion, the rightwing 
disinformation machine has kicked into high gear. Again and again, we 
hear the same empty words of reassurance from the Republican side. They 
claim that overturning Roe simply handed the question of abortion back 
to the people's representatives, back to the States--just that simple.
  This is false, and they know it. The reality is overturning Roe has 
unleashed a healthcare crisis in this country. It has ripped a right to 
make essential healthcare decisions away from the people and their 
doctors and handed it to the politicians in individual States.
  As soon as Roe was overturned by the Alito Supreme Court, nearly a 
dozen States outlawed abortion.
  In Ohio, abortion access is so restricted that we have heard this 
horrible, bone-chilling story of a 10-year-old rape victim who was 
denied care in the State of Ohio. Ten years old, Madam President. At 
the age of 10, parents and grandparents are still worried about 10-
year-old grandkids crossing the street. This 10-year-old victim had 
been raped. She was pregnant.
  The State's law in Ohio only permits abortions before fetal cardiac 
activity is detected, which is usually at 6 weeks of gestation. At the 
time this 10-year-old child sought care, she was 6 weeks and 3 days 
pregnant. She missed the deadline. So the child was forced to flee her 
home State of Ohio and travel to Indiana, where she was given medical 
care.
  And from the moment this story made headlines, what was the response 
from Republican politicians and the conservative media? They said it 
was fake news; that it is a hoax. They accused the doctor who treated 
the girl of just plain lying. They said that Democrats were making up 
these doomsday scenarios to scare the American people. The Wall Street 
Journal--the Wall Street Journal, Madam President--even ran an 
editorial calling the story ``Too Good to Confirm.''
  But unthinkable and sickening as it may be, the story is true. So why 
did Republicans go to such great lengths to discredit it? Because they 
refused to admit the truth. When faced with a case that shows the 
extreme consequences of outlawing abortion, as the Supreme Court just 
did weeks ago, they dismissed the facts as a lie.
  Well, here is the truth. Republican anti-choice policies will force 
children--children who are still not old enough to cross the street on 
their own--to give birth. Ten years old. And Republicans are not 
content with simply banning all abortion. They want to prosecute the 
healthcare professionals who have to make the life-and-death decisions 
in the practice of medicine--healthcare professionals like the one who 
treated this little girl from Ohio.
  Just last week, Indiana's Republican attorney general declared he was 
going to investigate this doctor from Indiana who provided this 
abortion. Well, what were his grounds for investigating? He claimed 
that the doctor didn't properly report the abortion to State 
authorities. But even that isn't true. Records show the doctor followed 
the law exactly as it is written.
  How did we reach this point? It has not even been a month since the 
Dobbs decision, and Republican officials are already finding ways to 
intimidate doctors who are providing essential care to Americans and 
America's children. The radical rightwing majority on the Supreme Court 
has given these lawmakers a green light to enact the most unreasonable, 
outrageous abortion bans imaginable.
  And as cruel as these bans may be, they cannot change the reality 
that reproductive healthcare is healthcare. In some cases, an abortion 
can mean the difference between life and death.
  The moment politicians start meddling in life-or-death health 
decisions, the moment we turn over these life-or-death decisions to a 
legislator rather than to a doctor and a patient, we are headed down a 
dark, dangerous, and deadly road.
  Here is what is happening. Right now, there is a doctor in America, 
today, who is being forced to make an impossible decision: Do I risk 
jail time, do I risk criminal charges by providing the care that I 
believe my patient needs, or do I sit back and risk my patient's life 
and health from pregnancy complications?
  What a choice. Do you want to make that as an elected official? I am 
not competent to make that choice. I am a lawyer--liberal arts. I 
didn't spend a day in medical school. When it comes to the people I 
care about--my family and others--I want medical professionals to make 
that decision, not run-of-the-mill politicians.
  Last week, the Texas attorney general filed a lawsuit against 
President Biden's administration. What was the reason? Because the 
administration issued guidance making it clear that healthcare 
providers are legally protected when offering legally mandated life- or 
health-saving services in emergency situations.
  Think about that. Texas would rather allow women to risk their 
health--even death--than allow them to seek emergency lifesaving care.
  And, yesterday, the New York Times--and I commend this article to 
everyone--reported that miscarriage patients in Texas are being turned 
away by doctors. These women are being denied care because ``doctors . 
. . worried the patients might have actually taken abortion pills that 
hadn't expelled the pregnancy, two situations that appear medically 
identical.''
  One San Antonio based ob-gyn put it best when she said:


[[Page S3323]]


  [T]he art of medicine is lost and actually has been replaced by fear.

  This is the world we have entered after the fall of Roe. And it is a 
wake-up call for every Member of this Senate. Don't turn your eyes away 
from it. This is the reality of the Supreme Court decision.
  Our constitutional rights should not, and cannot, differ State by 
State. For 50 years, this was a fundamentally constitutional guaranteed 
freedom. And it needs to be protected again by Federal law.
  I don't think this Court is going to stop with overturning Roe. I 
commended to all my colleagues, there was a speech made last Thursday 
by Senator Kaine of Virginia. Before he was in politics, he was a civil 
rights lawyer. And he is a good one. And he explained the 14th 
Amendment and what it means if we were to take the Alito Court analysis 
and basis and reject the notion that the 14th Amendment defines our 
citizenship in so many different ways.
  Justice Clarence Thomas has indicated the far right majority is 
coming next for the right to family birth control and contraception.
  Oh, that can't be true, Senator. They aren't going to go after birth 
control pills--watch them; they have already announced they are 
underway--and marriage equality and making our decisions about the 
future of our families.
  This Senate must act to protect marriage equality and all the 
fundamental human rights that are under threat by this radical Supreme 
Court. The question, though, when November comes around, will the 
American people care, or will they take a nap? Will they decide it is 
somebody else's problem? Well, I hope they don't because these problems 
are really facing all of us as Americans, whether we like it or not. We 
would rather not talk about this issue, but the Supreme Court gives us 
no choice.
  Now, let's be sensible. These are medical decisions that should be 
made by medical professionals.