Senator Murray: “Republicans want to force people to stay pregnant, force them to give birth regardless of what women want, and regardless of their circumstances. Republicans want to take away people’s ability to control their lives, their families, their futures… There is just no distracting from that—and certainly not if Democrats have anything to say about it.”
WATCH: SENATOR MURRAY’S FULL REMARKS HERE
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Assistant Democratic Leader and Chair of the Senate Health Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, delivered the following remarks on the Supreme Court preparing to overturn Roe v. Wade and the urgent need to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act during a press conference with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Tina Smith (D-MN), and Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV).
“Thank you. Republicans have worked day-in and day-out, for decades on end, to overturn Roe v. Wade, and end the constitutional right to abortion. Which of course won’t stop abortions—it will just stop safe abortions. And now the Supreme Court they pushed so hard to fill with far right, anti-abortion judges is about to do just that. But this week, they keep trying to distract from the issue at hand—as if anything could possibly distract women across the country from the heartbreak, and the outrage, of knowing our daughters and granddaughters could have fewer rights than we did. Let’s be clear—Republicans want to force people to stay pregnant, force them to give birth regardless of what women want, and regardless of their circumstances. Republicans want to take away people’s ability to control their lives, their families, their futures. It is overwhelmingly unpopular and unthinkably barbaric. There is just no distracting from that—and certainly not if Democrats have anything to say about it.
“That’s why we are going to be holding a vote tomorrow on the Women’s Health Protection Act. What this bill does is simple: It follows the Constitution and nearly half a century of precedent and gives patients the right to get an abortion, and doctors the right to provide abortion services, no matter where in America that patient or doctor lives. When we vote on this bill, every single Senator is going to have to go on the record as to whether they want to take their constituents’ rights away. Republicans are going to have to go on record as to whether they want this to be the first generation of American women with less freedom than their mothers.
“They can try all they want to distract from what’s really at stake here, but the bottom line is: tomorrow they are going to have to vote. And when they do, women across the country, whose rights are at stake—whose lives are at stake even—will be watching closely. I’ll be watching closely too. And I can personally guarantee you, we are going to remember everyone who votes against the right to an abortion, and this November—using our voices and our votes—we are not going to let anyone forget it.
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