Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I have taken this time to talk about National Small Business Week, but because of the events of the last 48 hours, I need to comment on the Justice Alito draft opinion that, if it were adopted by the Supreme Court, would overturn Roe v. Wade. I find this draft opinion to be outrageous. It puts the health, well- being, and constitutional rights of women across the Nation in great jeopardy, particularly those low-income women. Thirty-six million women of reproductive age would be at risk if the Alito opinion became the ruling of the Supreme Court. We look to our courts to protect and expand our constitutional protections, not to contract and weaken the constitutional protections, reversing nearly 50 years of legal precedent of Roe v. Wade. What we need to do is to make sure that this body does everything we can to protect women's rights and to protect their healthcare right to make their own decision. I am pleased that 16 States, including the District of Columbia, have taken action to protect women's rights, including my own State of Maryland, but we need to do more. We need to pass the Women's Health Protection Act. I am a cosponsor of that--proud to be a cosponsor of it--which would codify Roe v. Wade to protect reproductive rights for women. I hope we will have the opportunity to do that. I think we all recognize that we have a responsibility to act before the Supreme Court makes its ruling that could jeopardize the constitutional rights.”