Dan Coats: “The issue before us has nothing to do with a woman's right to have an abortion. It has nothing to do with an amendment…”

“The issue before us has nothing to do with a woman's right to have an abortion. It has nothing to do with an amendment that, in her words, denies the choice of women, takes away a woman's right to choose. It is not an amendment to stop anyone from getting a perfectly legal procedure accomplished. So I think it is important for our colleagues to understand what the amendment does and what it does not do. This is not a debate on whether or not a woman has a right to an abortion. I have suggested for a number of years, ever since I have been in the Senate, that we ought to have that debate. We have had that debate on occasion. But this is not the debate we are having today. The debate we are having today is on the amendment offered by the Senator from Ohio, which simply restores to the Senate bill the language that was incorporated in the House, that says, except in the cases where the life of the mother is in jeopardy or in cases of rape or incest, the taxpayer will not be asked to fund abortions chosen by a woman under the Federal Employees Health Benefits plan.”