Don Nickles: “on this resolution, I have been working with the Senator from California, and I appreciate her cooperation as well as…”

“on this resolution, I have been working with the Senator from California, and I appreciate her cooperation as well as the cooperation of the Senator from Washington, Senator Murray, in trying to come up with a resolution that we can support. I am talking about people of different views on different sides of the abortion question. I think we have come to agreement, and I appreciate their cooperation. When we originally looked at the resolution as introduced, it left a lot to be desired, and my original thought was that we could not support it. Since then, I think we have made some improvements, and I might just mention those. Originally the resolution stated that 'persons exercising their constitutional rights and acting completely within the law are entitled to full protection from the Federal Government.' Now, that might sound good. But we have left that out because it can be misleading. Some people might misinterpret that, so now that is not included in the resolution. We offered to say that they would be entitled to 'equal protection,' we did not reach an agreement on that. So now that particular segment is not included. Also, the original resolution stated that 'the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994 imposes a mandate on the Federal Government to protect individuals seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services.' That is now deleted. It was deleted, in my opinion, for a good reason--because it is not correct.…”