[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 148 (Wednesday, September 14, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4593-S4596]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Abortion

  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, yesterday, my Republican colleagues 
introduced a national abortion ban and made it clear that they are 
coming after the rights of my constituents and they are coming after 
the rights of people across the country.
  This atrocious bill threatens the people of Kansas who just voted 
overwhelmingly to protect abortion rights. It threatens the hundreds of 
thousands of people in Michigan who just signed a petition for a 
referendum vote to protect abortion and States like mine which already 
have strong abortion protections on our books.
  Up to now, Republicans have tried to play down their abortion 
extremism. They have tried to run away from the consequences of their 
extreme agenda, even as patients have been denied prescriptions that 
they need, even as doctors have been forced to wait until patients' 
lives are in danger before they can take action, even as healthcare 
crises they have caused spill across State lines to disastrous effect.
  But despite their empty rhetoric about leaving it to States, the 
truth has been painfully clear: They think they know better than women 
when it comes to reproductive healthcare decisions. They have shown, 
again and again, they do not trust women to have full control over 
their own bodies, and they are also willing to go after doctors.
  They have blocked the most basic bills like Senator Cortez Masto's 
bill that would have made sure people can still travel to other States 
for legally available care or my bill making sure that doctors in 
States where abortion is legal cannot be punished for doing their job.
  Over and over, they have stood in the way of Democrats' efforts to 
protect women's abortion rights, and it is crystal clear why. This bill 
shows the true Republican position. They want to ban abortion for 
everyone, in every single State, and they want to punish doctors. They 
want to put them in prison for doing their jobs.
  So, to anyone who lives in a blue State like mine, anyone who thinks 
they are safe from these attacks, here is the painful reality: 
Republicans are coming after your rights, and you don't have to take my 
word for it. The Senator from South Carolina said yesterday:

       If we take back the House and the Senate, I can assure you 
     we'll have a vote on our bill.

  There it is. It couldn't be clearer. That is the MAGA agenda for all 
50 States: rights stripped away and doctors in prison.
  Regardless of your circumstances, regardless of what is best for your 
health, regardless of your family plans--of your hopes or your fears or 
your dreams for your future--Republicans want to control your personal 
decisions. They don't trust you to have full control over your own 
body. This is horrifying.
  When he unveiled the bill yesterday, the Senator from South Carolina 
also said


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       I'll make a prediction: we stay on this and we keep talking 
     about it, maybe less than a decade from now, this will be 
     law.

  ``This will be law.'' This is the future that they want--a national 
abortion ban.
  Well, let me tell you something. The Senator from South Carolina may 
not have been paying attention, but Democrats are already talking about 
this issue every week, every day, every opportunity. And women across 
the country have been with us, fighting for the right to abortion and 
fighting back against Republicans' harmful attacks. We saw it in 
Kansas. We are seeing it in Michigan. And I am seeing it everywhere I 
go in Washington State.
  I have been talking to doctors and patients and women and men across 
our country, and they are outraged--outraged--that Republicans want to 
take away their rights, that Republicans want to put doctors in prison. 
And I am too. I have never been madder.
  So here is my message to Republicans: If you want to go after my 
constituents' rights, if you want to go after women's bodies and 
futures, if you want to pass a national abortion ban like this extreme 
bill, you are going to have to go through me because Democrats are 
going to keep standing up for women and men across the country who do 
not want their rights taken away.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Baldwin). The senior Senator from 
Connecticut.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, we are here today because 
Republicans are seeking a national ban on abortion. And if we say it 
once here, we should say it 10 times, 100 times, because literally 
months ago it would have been virtually unimaginable--first, that Roe 
v. Wade would be struck down and, second, that Republicans would 
propose a national ban on abortion.
  Women across Connecticut and the country are scared and angry. And to 
those who say those fears and outrage are illusory or unjustified, all 
you have to do is read their words. Listen to what they say. They are 
promising the American people that there will be a national ban on 
abortion.
  And to the people of Connecticut who think we have a safe haven 
because our legislature and Governor have courageously established 
protections for Roe v. Wade and for women who come to Connecticut 
seeking abortion services and for doctors who depend on our safeguards, 
there will be no safe haven in this country--none, nowhere--if 
Republicans go where they say, explicitly, they are heading.
  I trust women with their doctors and their clergy and their family to 
make decisions about when and whether to become pregnant, whether to 
have children, and when to terminate a pregnancy short of term. I trust 
women--not the government, not politicians--to make these preeminently 
important decisions.
  And I promise the people of Connecticut I will not back down. I will 
not stand for this kind of national ban on abortion.
  Republicans have said, historically: We will let the States decide. 
It should be a matter of State legislatures making these decisions.
  This ban on abortion takes away power from women and from States, 
contrary to their promises over years and years about States' rights. 
But more than a theoretical or hypothetical argument about the powers 
of State legislatures or the allocation of responsibility in our 
Federal system, this law will have destructive and catastrophic 
consequences for millions of women. It will impair the everyday lives 
of women and families across America.
  It is not just a woman's issue. It is on all of us to say we will not 
back down; we will not stand for a national ban on abortion.
  It is part of a tireless and seemingly boundless campaign against 
women's rights, but these attacks on reproductive rights and personal 
freedom apparently know no limits. Remember, first, Republican-
controlled State legislatures moved to outlaw abortion entirely, 
forcing women suffering from ectopic pregnancies to bleed out in 
hospitals and refusing to care for child rape victims. But now 
Republicans are moving forward with plans to ban abortion everywhere, 
under any circumstances, and they are wresting a woman's right to make 
her own personal healthcare decision, sometimes a decision made during 
a devastating medical diagnosis out of her hands, putting those 
decisions into government's hands.
  Make no mistake, the 15 weeks--all of the technical stuff that 
Republicans invoke, doesn't take away from the fact that it is a 
national ban that will eviscerate Connecticut's law. Congressional 
Republicans will decide whether or not women can access this vital 
help.
  Eliminating access to abortion services as a result of the Dobbs 
decision has already caused devastating consequences. The loss of 
reproductive services in some States has caused a ripple effect for 
healthcare providers across the United States, which proves, for anyone 
who doubted, that banning reproductive services doesn't stop women from 
seeking those services. It just adds additional barriers and danger. In 
fact, it unnecessarily puts their lives at risk.
  This bill would place a ban on abortion across the country, and it 
would include New York and Massachusetts, not just Connecticut and 
Delaware. Go across the country and pick those States where these 
rights have been protected.
  When I was in the State legislature, and then as attorney general, I 
helped write the law that incorporates and codifies Roe v. Wade in 
Connecticut statute. And now Connecticut has moved beyond that statute 
to provide a safe haven. But all of it would be gone. All of it would 
be overwritten by this law.
  Americans should have no doubt about where Republicans stand now on 
this issue. They want to punish women. They want to punish doctors. 
They will do it at the State level. They will do it at the national 
level. No State, not even Connecticut, is safe from this threat. They 
are coming after our laws in Connecticut. They are coming after women 
in Connecticut and men who believe in the rights of women as a matter 
of constitutional and personal freedom to make these decisions.
  Our laws should protect the rights of women seeking to make their own 
personal decisions about their reproductive health in consultation with 
medical providers, and I will fight tooth and nail this effort and any 
other effort that seeks to control, criminalize, and dehumanize women 
making this choice and the healthcare providers compassionately giving 
them care.

  The American people are in our corner. American people--whatever they 
may think about abortion in their own lives, for their own family, for 
their daughters or wives or others--they support the rights of those 
women to control their own healthcare decision. It is an intensely 
personal decision, when it has to be made, and sometimes a threat of 
life, something going horribly wrong in a pregnancy, is the reason for 
it.
  I will continue to fight for all in Connecticut who believe in this 
fundamental right. It is a matter of our constitutional DNA in 
Connecticut, beginning with Griswold v. Connecticut, which laid the 
groundwork for the right of privacy which is the underpinning for that 
constitutional freedom. And all of us, I hope, will reject this effort 
to ban abortion in the United States.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
  Ms. CORTEZ MASTO. Madam President, in June, as we are hearing, the 
Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, reversing nearly 50 years of law 
that recognized a woman's fundamental right to reproductive freedom. We 
also know that Justice Kavanaugh's concurring opinion repeatedly 
insisted that the Court's decision would return the issue of abortion 
to the people's elected representatives in the States. But this was 
never about States' rights, really, to my rightwing colleagues who want 
to restrict a woman's fundamental rights, and we know that because now 
they are pushing for a national abortion ban.
  Yesterday, as we have heard, Senator Graham introduced a strict 
national abortion ban with criminal penalties for doctors who provide 
critical care. If it passes, this bill will preempt the laws in States 
across the country

[[Page S4595]]

where abortion is still legal, including my own State of Nevada. In 
Nevada, our voters approved a ballot initiative in 1990 to enshrine a 
woman's right to choose in our State laws.
  So what happened to my colleagues' claims of respecting the rights of 
States to make that decision? Well, apparently it wasn't enough to pack 
the Court with Supreme Court Justices who would vote to deprive women 
of the right that they have held for 50 years, under the guise of 
States' rights. Now, when far-right Republicans disagree with a State's 
decision, like mine, they plan to impose their own laws.
  The current legislation introduced by Senator Graham stops the people 
in pro-choice States--like mine, like Nevada--from choosing to protect 
the rights of women. At the same time, it leaves in place stricter 
abortion bans in 14 States.
  What these far-right Republicans are effectively saying now is this: 
Anti-choice States, you are free to choose however harsh you want your 
abortion bans to be. But you pro-choice States, you are out of luck. 
Whatever the voters want in your States, it really doesn't matter 
because we are going to impose our own laws.
  Look, Nevadans, as I have said, in 1990, we worked to codify Roe v. 
Wade because we know that it is impossible to walk in another woman's 
shoes. We know that for each woman, this is an important decision for 
each individual woman to make with her doctor, with her loved ones, 
about her healthcare, about her family planning.
  I do not know what another woman is going to go through, and I do not 
want to restrict her access to any type of care, nor should any of us 
be imposing our beliefs, our experiences, our religion on someone else.
  That is what this is about, and that is why Nevada voters voted in 
1990 to codify Roe v. Wade and give women the right to make this 
decision.
  Right now, we are seeing some politicians once again declare that 
they know what is best for every family in this Nation. They want to 
force the State of Nevada and other States like Nevada to limit women's 
freedoms, even though voters in my State voted to legally protect the 
right to choose that Nevada women have had for 50 years.
  I have been saying for months now that some of my colleagues would 
never be satisfied with just overturning Roe and that they wouldn't 
rest until there was a national abortion ban. This bill shows every 
American that not only are women's rights under attack, but so is the 
democratic process in States like Nevada. If we don't have an abortion 
ban on the books, our State rights don't matter. That is just 
unacceptable. We can't let our nieces, our daughters, our 
granddaughters grow up in a world where they have fewer rights than we 
have had in the past.
  So I, for one, will keep fighting back because this is about a 
fundamental right for American women and the will of people in States 
like Nevada to make that decision and help and vote for the right of 
women to choose.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
  Ms. HIRONO. Madam President, when the extreme far-right Supreme Court 
overturned Roe, my Republican colleagues lauded this horrendous 
decision, claiming that a woman's right to an abortion should be left 
to the States. But now they are admitting what we knew all along: that 
this was never about States' rights. This has always been about 
Republicans using their power to control women and our bodily autonomy.
  Despite the fact that the vast majority of the American public 
supports reproductive freedom and despite the fact that voters across 
the country are overwhelmingly voting to protect this freedom, 
Republicans are pandering--I think that is a really good word, apt 
word--pandering--to the extreme MAGA base and have now introduced a 
nationwide ban on abortion after 15 weeks.
  Why 15 weeks, you ask? Because that is what the senior Senator from 
South Carolina who introduced this legislation said he would ``feel 
comfortable at.'' So we now have a Republican Senator attempting to 
restrict the bodily autonomy of women across the country because that 
is what he feels comfortable at. It is not enough that the overturning 
of Roe has created fear and confusion all across the country. We now 
have the introduction of a nationwide abortion ban further adding to 
the chaos.
  This is not some sort of hypothetical debate or ``hysteria,'' as some 
of my Republican colleagues have claimed. If Republicans take control 
of the Senate, we now know what they will do. They will work to pass a 
national abortion ban, which would mean even in my home State of 
Hawaii, which was the first State in the country to decriminalize 
abortion even before the Roe decision--we did this in Hawaii in 1970. 
And for voters in States who are pushing back against their radical 
legislators and exercising their right to bring the issue of abortion 
to the ballot, including States like Kansas and Michigan, this bill 
would overrule their efforts.
  But, of course, to add to their utter hypocrisy, if States like Texas 
or Mississippi want to be even more restrictive, even more harmful to 
women than a 15-week ban, that would be A-OK, according to the Senator 
from South Carolina and his extreme bill.
  Allowing Republicans to regain control of Congress would be 
catastrophic not only for women, but for our entire country because 
when we women can't control what we do with our bodies, of course this 
impacts our families, our communities, our economy.
  So this November, people are going to have a choice: Do you want to 
let extreme MAGA Republicans tell you what you can and can't do with 
your own body, or do you want to hold these politicians accountable for 
pushing their far-right extreme agenda and perpetuating the chaos, 
confusion, and fear of women, families, communities, and our healthcare 
professionals? Let's not forget all the doctors who are out there 
wondering how they can provide the kind of care that they are trained 
to do right now, how they can do that in the face of this kind of ban 
in so many States across the country, not to mention a nationwide 
abortion ban. The chaos and confusion being experienced all across the 
country following the Dobbs' decision has only multiplied by this 
nationwide abortion ban bill.
  Talk about government overreach. I hear my colleagues talking about 
how it should be States' rights or government should not be telling us 
what to do. The word ``hypocrites'' doesn't even go far enough to call 
them out on what they are doing. This is an outright attack on women in 
this country. That is how I see it. That is how more and more women and 
those who support our right to make decisions about our own bodies, 
that is how we see it. And why? Because that is what is happening. This 
is literally a call to arms in our country.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
  Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, I come to the floor to discuss the new 
Graham legislation to create a national abortion ban. The centerpiece 
of the Senator's argument is that Senator Graham wants our country to 
believe that his national abortion ban is a moderate proposal--his 
words. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
  A moderate bill would not institute criminal penalties for doctors 
providing lifesaving medical care. That is what this so-called moderate 
bill does. A moderate bill would not take rights away from American 
women, no matter where they live. That is what this so-called moderate 
bill does. A moderate bill would not create a presumption of women's 
guilt by requiring them to report a rape or seek counseling before they 
get an abortion. This so-called moderate bill does that, too.
  Just think about that last point. If you are trying to assess our 
colleague from South Carolina's argument that his bill is moderate, 
under Senator Graham's new restrictions, a 12-year-old rape victim, 
regardless of the terror she feels or the danger she faces, would have 
to find a way to report her assault to police before she could get the 
care she needs. That is a stunning overreach and there is absolutely 
nothing that is moderate about this proposal. The reality is this is 
not a moderate proposal. It is an extreme proposal, way out of step 
with the overwhelming opinion of the American people.
  The other important argument I wanted to discuss was this whole 
matter of how so many of my colleagues on

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the other side of the aisle have pledged loyalty--pledged loyalty--to 
the importance of States' rights that they are going to leave the 
decision on abortion to the States. But Senator Graham has shown us 
that all his talk about States' rights means that the States have to 
agree with Senator Graham. That is what his idea about States' rights 
is all about.
  His bill tramples, for example, on the rights of Oregonians, who sure 
don't share Senator Graham's view on this, and people in many other 
States, women and men who voted to protect abortion, women's 
healthcare, and women's individual freedom.
  Senator Graham's bill is about control. It is about government--
government--mind these words--government having control over women's 
bodies rather than women having control over their bodies.
  It is also clear that what has always been envisioned is not just a 
nationwide ban on abortions but criminalizing this with women and 
doctors at some point, I gather, possibly locked behind bars.
  It is election season and Senator McConnell wants everybody to forget 
the Republicans' top priorities include passing these extreme 
restrictions through Congress and the courts. I believe that Americans 
know better. When it comes to this kind of legislation that is so far 
removed--far removed--from the moderate claim of its sponsor, I think 
we ought to recognize what we are looking at is a total national 
abortion ban, criminalization, and the rights of women curtailed and 
the power of government over them increased.
  Senator Graham's bill is the next step in that direction for 
Republicans. Introducing his proposal, Senator Graham basically 
confirmed that:

       If [we] take back the House and Senate, I can assure you 
     we'll have a vote [on our bill].

  Madam President, I think we have a lot of speakers coming, but I 
think the American people ought to take Senator Graham at his word. 
This is what his agenda is about. This is what he is going to be 
championing from sea to shining sea. I just hope we do everything we 
can here in the Senate--in this country--to make sure that the Graham 
bill does not see the light of day.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.