Chris Van Hollen: “first, I want to thank my friend and colleague, the Senator from Michigan, for coming to the floor to share his own…”

“first, I want to thank my friend and colleague, the Senator from Michigan, for coming to the floor to share his own powerful and personal story and the stories of his constituents about why so many of us are here on the Senate floor this evening, and it is because 8 days ago, our country received a terrible wake-up call. A leaked draft opinion from the Supreme Court of the United States indicated that a majority of five Justices may be on the verge of overturning the constitutional protections of reproductive freedom set forth in Roe v. Wade. We don't know if this draft opinion will be the final decision, but we do know there is a very high chance that the Supreme Court of the United States will soon blow up 50 years of precedent and strip women of their constitutional right to make choices about their own body and their own self-determination. And while the content of this opinion is shocking, it is not totally surprising. This is the premeditated outcome of years--years--of plotting and planning by the rightwing legal movement and the Republican Party. Candidate Donald Trump promised the Nation he would handpick Justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade. On the campaign trail, he even claimed that Roe would be overturned ``immediately'' once he assumed office. And he stated on national television that women who receive abortions should be punished.…”