Barbara Boxer: “I share with my friend the very elegant simple language of the Harkin amendment: It is the sense of the Senate that: (1)…”

“I share with my friend the very elegant simple language of the Harkin amendment: It is the sense of the Senate that: (1) the decision of the Supreme Court in Roe vs. Wade (410 U.S. 113 (1973)) was appropriate and secures an important right; and (2) such decisions should not be overturned. This is a very elegant, simple statement and, by the way, has no force of law. It is simply a sense of this Senate. Does it not seem to my friend to be an indication of how out of sync the House is on that they would strike this simple sense-of-the Senate language? If you ask the people, and we have a recent poll--Should Government be involved in the early stages of a pregnancy?--80 percent say, Government, keep your nose out. And the House is so interested in passing this underlying ban on a medical procedure that, by the way, has no exception for health, would the Senator not think they would have just left this in and then there would be no difference between the House and the Senate? As we know from our Government textbooks, when there is no difference, the bill would go right to the President.”