Schatz: As We Mark Roe Anniversary, Senate Democrats Will Continue To Fight To Restore Reproductive Rights Across The Country
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today spoke on the Senate floor to mark the 51st anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision and called for restoring reproductive rights across the country.
“Because of the current right-wing Supreme Court's decision almost two years ago to dismantle reproductive freedom, women in many parts of the United States today have less control over their bodies than they did 50 years ago after Roe. The Dobbs decision was the crowning achievement of the hard-right’s decades-long war on a woman’s right to choose. But it wasn’t the end – they want to go even further. These very same people are now going state-by-state, trying to pass extreme laws to all but ban abortion access. And it’s working. Over half of women of reproductive age live in states hostile to abortion rights,” Schatz said in remarks on the Senate floor. “The right-wing Supreme Court may well deliver another hammer blow to abortion rights in the coming months should it reverse federal rules governing access to medication abortion. Rules that were shaped in part by a federal lawsuit where a Hawai‘i doctor argued – rightly – that women should be able to access abortion pills, which are safe and effective, when and where they need them. For Hawai‘i and so many other places around the country that rely on telehealth and medication-by-mail for access to care, these measures are vital. But they may not last much longer.”
Schatz continued, “if there’s a glimmer of hope in all of this, it’s that a majority of Americans reject Republican extremism on abortion. Senate Democrats will continue to fight until a woman’s right to choose is the law of the land again.”
Video of the remarks is available here and a full transcript follows.
This week is the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. Because of the current right-wing Supreme Court's decision almost two years ago to dismantle reproductive freedom, women in many parts of the United States today have less control over their bodies than they did 50 years ago after Roe.
The Dobbs decision was the crowning achievement of the hard-right's decades-long war on a woman's right to choose. But it wasn't the end. They want to go even further. These very same people are now going state by state, trying to pass extreme laws to all but ban abortion access. And it is working. Over half of the women of reproductive age live in states that are hostile to abortion rights. And more than 64,000 women and girls have become pregnant because of rape in states that have implemented abortion bans after Roe was overturned. 64,000 women and girls pregnant in states where abortion access is limited or not available at all.
The stories that they share about the pain and the trauma inflicted by this extreme cruelty break your heart. A woman in Ohio who had one day, one single day, to decide whether or not to keep her child because she was right on the verge of the state's ban at six weeks. Or a Florida woman who was forced to carry her baby to term even though doctors found fatal abnormalities in an ultrasound at 23 weeks and knew that it had at most a few hours to live after birth. Another woman whose baby would have been born without a skull – without a skull – traveled 1,400 miles from Baton Rouge to New York City to get an abortion because local doctors were afraid they would lose their license or be thrown in prison for providing abortion services.
Horrific as these stories are, they haven't stopped Republicans from trying to destroy every last bit of bodily autonomy and freedom. Republicans here in Congress are explicit. They are pushing for a national abortion ban. And so some of the things you say about what's happening sound like they are partisan talking points, but that's what's happening. They actually do want an abortion ban in federal statutory law.
And the right-wing Supreme Court may well deliver another hammer blow to abortion rights in the coming months if it reverses federal rules governing access to medication. Abortion rules that were shaped in part by a federal lawsuit where a Hawai‘i doctor argued, correctly, that women should be able to access abortion pills, which are safe and effective, when and where they need them. For Hawai‘i and so many other places around the country that rely on telehealth and medication-by-mail for access to care, this is vital. But they may not last much longer.
If there is a glimmer of hope in all of this, it's that a majority of Americans reject this extremism on abortion. They see it for what it is: plainly unjust and needlessly cruel. They believe in a woman's right to choose, and they support enshrining reproductive rights nationally – once and for all. We live in a democracy after all. And Senate Democrats will continue to fight until a woman's right to control their own bodies is the law of the land again.
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