Barbara Boxer: “my colleague, in his discussion of this amendment, does attack the landmark case of Roe v. Wade which simply said, in…”

“my colleague, in his discussion of this amendment, does attack the landmark case of Roe v. Wade which simply said, in the 1970s--and women have had the right since then--that in the early stages of a pregnancy, the government should play no role in the very personal, private, moral decision that a woman and her family and her doctor and her God would make without the interference of government. But his amendment certainly does not attack Roe in any way. His amendment makes it very clear that nothing in this amendment gives any rights that are not yet afforded to a fetus. Therefore, I, as being a pro-choice Senator on this side, representing my colleagues here, have no problem whatsoever with this amendment. I feel good about that. I feel good that we can, in fact, vote for this together. It is very rare that we can. Simply put, this amendment says it all in its purpose: ``To protect infants who are born alive.'' Of course, of course. My colleague goes on to say that simple statement, which is very important, is in fact, he said, the heart of this bill. I think the heart of this bill is even more than that. The heart of this bill is, yes, protecting infants; it is also protecting children, protecting teenagers, protecting people as they get older, until they are very old and very frail and are fighting for their life. So this bill really should protect us all at every stage of our life, from the earliest days until the final days.”