On the recordJanuary 29, 2018
Mr. President, I want to thank the senior Senator from Washington for her leadership on this important issue and for gathering women to come to the floor today to talk about the Republican bill that has been proposed and that we will be voting on soon. When I was a girl growing up in Oklahoma, women got abortions. Make no mistake, abortions were illegal back then, but women got them. Desperate women turned to back-alley butchers, and some even tried the procedure on their own, using coat hangers or drinking turpentine. Some were lucky, but some weren't. Some women bled to death. Some died of infection. Some were poisoned. And they all went through hell. In 1973, the Supreme Court stepped in. Forty-five years after Roe v. Wade, abortions are safer than getting your tonsils out. A lot of women are alive today because of Roe. Nearly 70 percent of Americans agree, Roe v. Wade is worth celebrating. I wish I were here today to acknowledge the impact of Roe. Instead, I am here to defend it from attack. Last week President Trump marked the anniversary of Roe v. Wade by calling for a ban on a rare category of abortions--ones that take place after 20 weeks of pregnancy. So today, the Senate is voting on a bill to do exactly that. Let's be honest about why this vote is happening now.…





