Maggie Hassan: “I rise to join my colleagues in opposing this legislation that is the Republican Party's latest effort to take away a…”

“I rise to join my colleagues in opposing this legislation that is the Republican Party's latest effort to take away a woman's fundamental freedom to make her own healthcare decisions and take away a family's fundamental right to navigate heartbreaking and complex health decisions without government interference. I come from the ``Live Free or Die'' State. Granite Staters and Americans love freedom. Our country's promise is that freedom belongs to everyone. But today, thanks to the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and the extreme actions by Republican legislatures in some States, women in America are not free. In a sense, this legislation that we are debating right now is disconnected from reality. This bill ignores a pretty basic fact: Infanticide is illegal in every corner of this country. The claim that this legislation will save lives is disingenuous, and the assumption underlying this bill that an expectant mother would seek an abortion after months of pregnancy for anything but the most dire of reasons shows a deliberate willingness to ignore the realities of women's health. So here are the facts. All that this legislation will do is make it harder for doctors to perform lifesaving care for their patients. And it will make it harder for families to make the best healthcare decisions for themselves in moments of great heartbreak as they face the final moments of a desired pregnancy or the final moments of a terminally ill newborn's life.…”