Barbara Boxer: “I am very much in favor of enhanced penalties for those offenders, those criminals, who harm pregnant women. I think…”

“I am very much in favor of enhanced penalties for those offenders, those criminals, who harm pregnant women. I think Senator Feinstein's substitute amendment is one that does exactly that. What I do not support are the efforts of some Members of this body who clearly are the leaders of the anti-choice movement in the Senate. We have heard from them seriatim. They have just come right down and spoken. I do not support what they are trying to do, which is to undermine pro-choice laws, particularly Roe v. Wade. Now, one can dress up a bill to make it look like anything one wants, but the so-called Unborn Victims of Violence Act, although they try to dress it up as a criminal statute designed to deter violence, I think has tremendous weakness in the way it is written and in the way it would prosecute a violent criminal who harms a pregnant woman. It is another effort to undermine Roe v. Wade, which as we know, has given women in this country the right to choose, and it is a very important right of privacy.”