Dan Coats: “the Senator from California and I, obviously, have a difference of opinion on this. Let me see if I can refocus the…”

“the Senator from California and I, obviously, have a difference of opinion on this. Let me see if I can refocus the debate. The question here is not over a woman's right to choose. The question is not over whether a woman has the right to an abortion. While the Senator from California and I disagree on the current legal status of that question, the Supreme Court has granted a woman the right to an abortion. That is not the issue that we are debating. That is not what this amendment is about. This amendment is focused on a fairly narrow question, and that is whether or not taxpayers' dollars ought to be used to provide abortion for women who serve in the military. There would be a problem here in denying a woman's access to abortion and perhaps impeding her constitutional rights if there were not alternatives available to that particular woman. But there are alternatives available. And the Department of Defense has made sure those alternatives are available. There is no recorded case in the Department of Defense where there was ever a complaint raised. That is why I said this seems to be a solution in search of a problem.”