Senator Hassan Blasts Efforts to Take Away Reproductive Health Care in Senate Floor Speech

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate to criticize the decision by the Senate's Republican leadership to hold a vote on legislation to restrict a woman's fundamental freedom to access reproductive health care, instead of working in a bipartisan manner to lower the cost of living.

Click here to see video of Senator Hassan's remarks and see a full transcript of Senator Hassan's remarks below:

Thank you. I rise, Mister President, 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 health care 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 health care 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.

It is also remarkable that this is among the first pieces of legislation that the Republicans have brought to the floor since the inauguration of a new president. This is, of course, legislation in search of a problem, but it is not in search of a motive. Some of my colleagues have decided that, rather than address the most pressing issues facing the American people, they will instead push legislation to curtail the freedom of women…just the latest in their long line of efforts since Roe was overturned to take away more and more freedom from half of the population.

I am willing and eager to work with my colleagues to tackle the greatest challenges facing our country…that's what our constituents expect and deserve of us…and something that this bill so clearly fails to do.

This legislation will not bring down the prices of groceries, nor will it reduce rents, or do anything to make it easier for families to make ends meet…but it will make life harder for expectant mothers facing a painful choice;

It won't make health care more affordable, though it provides that doctors can be put in jail for providing care for their patients;

It won't keep our children safe from crime or fentanyl traffickers…though it will make our daughters less free.

This legislation, in short, does nothing to address any of the great challenges that America faces…it seeks only to deny and diminish the freedom of our fellow Americans.

But this is what some of our colleagues have decided to focus on during the first full day of the new administration. Across our country, in red states and blue alike, in the distant corners of the land of the free, there is no great clamor to further limit freedom, there is no great clamor to have members of Congress substitute their judgement for that of a woman, her doctors, and her family. But you wouldn't know it if you follow the action of the Senate majority today.

We cannot lose sight of what this debate is ultimately about. At the center of this debate is a very simple question: Do we believe in the promise of our Declaration of Independence, that all are created equal…do we believe that freedom belongs to everyone…and do we believe that women deserve to be free and equal citizens in the United States of America?

This is America, the world's greatest democracy; here, women should not be second-class citizens; in this country, each of us is supposed to have the freedom to chart our own future. And we know well that freedom includes the freedom to make personal, private decisions that others may disagree with. Our commitment to putting freedom first, that's part of what makes America different...indeed, that is what makes us exceptional. The American people understand freedom's importance; their leaders should remember it too.

The American people have not asked for the extreme agenda that this legislation represents. They haven't asked the majority to further restrict their freedom. I urge my colleagues to listen to the American people, put aside this partisan agenda, and get to work to tackle the challenges that are facing our country.

###

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Tweet