[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 148 (Monday, September 23, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S6324]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Abortion

  Now, Madam President, on reproductive rights and Project 2025, over 
the weekend, former President Donald Trump said at an event that, if he 
becomes President, women ``will no longer be thinking about abortion.''
  He uttered these words in the middle of another one of his 
incomprehensible rants, where he lamented about the state of women's 
healthcare. He lamented that ``women have been through a lot'' and 
claimed that things will somehow get better if he returns to office.
  At the risk of stating the obvious, Donald Trump has zero credibility 
when it comes to women's healthcare, and it is both ridiculous and 
insulting for Donald Trump to suggest women won't have to worry about 
abortion if he returns to the White House. Of course, they will.
  Not 1 week ago, a report was published detailing the tragic story of 
a woman from Georgia who died because her State's abortion bans 
prevented her from receiving lifesaving care. The story is equal parts 
heartbreaking and enraging when you read how this woman was denied 
proper care because she happened to live in the ``wrong State.'' Worst 
of all, there are undoubtedly more stories like hers out there.
  And, make no mistake, these abortion bans are now a reality largely 
because of one person--Donald Trump. More than any single individual, 
Donald Trump is the reason women worry so much about abortion and 
reproductive health today. After all, it was Donald Trump and the MAGA 
Republicans who appointed three ultraconservative Justices to the 
Supreme Court, with the explicit goal of overturning Roe. It was Donald 
Trump who, again and again, bragged about ending protections under Roe. 
Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans are also the ones who cleared the 
path for draconian bans at the State level, and as much as they now try 
to deny it, Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans are the ones clamoring 
for the chance to pass a national abortion ban.
  Don't take it from me. Senator Vance, whom Donald Trump chose as his 
running mate, said, 2 years ago, he would ``certainly like abortion to 
be illegal nationally.'' He ``certainly would like abortion to be 
illegal nationally.'' These were the words of Donald Trump's running 
mate. Statements like these give women plenty of reason to worry about 
Donald Trump returning to the White House.

  Look, when people have their rights taken away, they don't simply 
stop thinking about the issue.
  Former President Trump, that is not how it works. You can't fool 
people like you are trying to do. When people's rights are taken away, 
they start worrying about which rights will crumble next.
  They wonder: Now that Republicans overturned Roe, what is next? Will 
women's pregnancies be monitored? Will drugs like mifepristone get 
banned? Will States start banning IVF?
  Now, none of this is theoretical. Many of these ideas are laid out in 
President Trump's Project 2025, and in a shocker to nobody, an 
overwhelming majority of Americans thinks the ideas of Project 2025 are 
toxic. Just yesterday, an NBC poll found that only 4 percent--4 
percent--of Americans viewed Project 2025 favorably, and half--more 
than half--of Americans said they had strongly unfavorable views.
  The bottom line is this: Donald Trump and the hard right are the 
reason reproductive care is at its weakest point in modern history, but 
as project 2025 makes clear, the MAGA right is just getting started 
even though most Americans overwhelmingly reject their radical agenda.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.