Patsy T. Mink: “it is really tragic, tragic that the personal problems and the anxieties of women who face these very, very difficult…”

“it is really tragic, tragic that the personal problems and the anxieties of women who face these very, very difficult decisions that must be made with respect to their health and their safety and the integrity of their family and to have those tragic circumstances of a person's life be used under these circumstances to advance this political goal of trying to do away with abortion. But I think that the debate clearly points out that what is being attempted here is a denunciation of the rights of women that have been created by the U.S. Supreme Court. That is what is at stake here. It is not this procedure that is used so few times out of necessity, but it is the principle of interfering with the doctor and the women that require this procedure, taking away that right of a woman to make this difficult decision, taking away the right of a woman to consult with her physician about what needs to be done, allowing the Congress of the United States to make these decisions. I think that is the most reprehensible thing we could even think of. We talk about getting big government off of the backs of people. Well, let us concentrate about what we are trying to do today. We are trying to take away the rights of reproductive freedom that the Supreme Court has established, which the courts have said we must not interfere, and this is what is before us today, and that is why this Congress must oppose it. That is why this bill must never become law.”