Because medical care is o denied to those children. This should bring us together and i heard our colleagues on both sides of the aisle stand together for life. Every life, as a precious unique gift from god, every life with her child has a disability, whether the child is valued or not. That child should be valued. Should be protected because that child is precious. I feel the floor. Is must be a day that ends in y because once again, republican senators are pushing for backwards ideological bills to restrict womens Constitutional Rights to abortion. Once again, republicans are peddling a band that is blatantly unconstitutional. In once again, they are pretending we dont already t have laws on the books that protect infants and using that as a pretense to drama fear and misunderstanding about one of the most heartbreaking situations a family can face. Push for antidoctor, antiwomen, antifamily legislation aso once again i am here on behalf of women and men across the country to deliver the same message we have made clear countless times, not on our watch. Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell has indicated he wants to visit to legislating which makes these two atrocious bills an interesting choice because all 100 senators know they are going absolutely nowhere. The truth is republicans rate is not actually about passing laws any more than it is about Peoples Health or medical science or what is best for patients. Its really about republicans crass political calculations that they can fire up their far right base with an all out war against the constitutionally protected rights of states legal abortions. The two bills differ in some significant ways, but they have the same consequences they would criminalize , criminalize abortion, take deeply personal, often painful decisions out of the hands of parents and use scare tactics and misinformation to try to weaken strong republican support for roe. Another thing they have in common, they have already been panned by leading medical groups. The American College of obstetricians and gynecologists have called one of these bills quote, and unconstitutional attempt to intimidate Healthcare Providers and prevent them from providing the safe care their Patients Want and need. And they said the other is a quote, gross legislative interference into the practice of medicine. And its not just medical experts. Families across the country have actually faced these decisions, have spoken out to make clear politicians should have no part in them. Pressing for these awful bills year after year may be nothing more than a cynical political package for republicans but passing them would be an unconscionable exercise in cruelty to the people who would actually be affected. People like judy who is from my home state of washington. Judy learned over 20 weeks and who her pregnancy that her sonsorgans were not developing properly. One lung was just 20 percent formed , the other was missing entirely. People like kate whose doctor informed her if her daughter survive birth she would not be able to walk, talk or swallow and likely would not even be comfortable enough to sleep. People like lindsay who learned her daughter had a fastgrowing inoperable tumor growing into her brain and heart and lung, wrapping around her neck and eyes and just and making her odds of survival incredibly slim. Training. Each of them has spoken out to underscore than those in wrenching moments wanted to make the decisions that was best for their child and their family with their Healthcare Provider. But each of these bills, mr. President , would take the ability to make the decision best for that child in that family away from women like judy and kate and lindsay and darla. Those bills would prevent doctors from offering the best medical advice all because extreme politicians are more concerned with spreading misinformation and firing up their base than they are with actual womens lives. In other words, in the most private moments of personal tragedy these bills would take precedence over a familys wishes as they grieve. Politicians supporting these bills how dare you think that your opinion is more important here than the knowledge of medical experts and the wishes of the family that is affected. I dont understand how anyone can say instead of letting patients make their own very personal decisions that they should have that decision made for them by President Trump and Vice President pence and that is exactly what we are talking about today. Ador why . Because even though roe v wade has been the law of the land for almost half a century even though a large majority of people do not want to see that landmark decision overturned we republicans think somehow they can benefit politically and fire up the most ideological elements of their base by using every tool imaginable to chip away at the right t to safe, safe legal abortions. I am here to say they can try. But women, metal experts and those of us elected officials who trust them are not going to follow these bills what they a are, anti women, anti doctor and antifamily. We are going to make clear we oppose every single one of their efforts to further chip away at access to safe, legal abortion under row. Every extreme, cool abortion b ban, every fear mongering effort to gin up controversy to make sure j we dont already perfect infants and every far right judge they try to pass on to the court to chip away at roe v wade, every barrier to carrying information like President Trumps gag rule and every new shameful scheme they concoct in their allout war on access to a Reproductive Health care. Whatever republicans try next, democrats will continue fighting alongside women and men across the country to protect their ability to make their own decisions about their own family. Standing up for doctors ability to Practice Medicine without politicians getting in the way and lifting up the stories of real people like judy and kate and lindsay and darla and many others. This is so publicans cannot ignore them. Thank you and i yield the floor. Mr. President. The senator from New Hampshire expect mr. President , i am really disappointed to feel like i need to come to the floor today to respond to these anti women, antifamily bills that have been introduced. Not only would these bills interfere with a womans ability to make her own reductive choices but they would threaten doctors with prison time if they perform Abortion Services that women have a constitutional right to receive. These bills are dangerous and extreme and they are part of an ongoing effort by this administration to overturn roe v wade. We dont need this legislation to prevent the killing of infants. Lets be very clear. Infanticide is already illegal under federal law and in fact, prosecutions have occurred under the current law that prevents infanticide. This legislation would do nothing but set up ambiguous standards for cases that are often medical emergencies and add uncertainty to laws that are already on the books to prohibit infanticide. This uncertainty will have a Chilling Effect on the ability of women to access the services they need in the united states. The legislation we are voting on would also imprison doctors for up to five years for performing abortions. After a woman is at 20 weeks pregnant, even though federal courts have ruled that this 20 weeks abortion ban, as proposed under one of these bills, would violate the constitution. The 20 week abortion ban bill would only allow for exceptions for minors who are victims of rape or incest if those young women report that rape or incest to the police. Now, for adult women the rape exception would only apply if she waits 48 hours and get counseling from a Healthcare Provider that her government, not that she or her family, but thee government determined is acceptable. These exceptions are just shameful because my colleagues know, as i do, that almost three quarters of rape and Sexual Assault are never reported. Often because women have legitimate fears of being vivictimized again and they fear their rapists and the person who assaulted them but more broadly it is this simple. We should not be putting doctors in prison for providing a woman with the reproductive care that she chooses and we must alwaysem remember that abortions that are performed later in pregnancy are almost always done as a result of severe fetal diagnoses and a serious risk that the pregnancy poses to the life of the woman. This is not a decision that any woman or family wants to be in a position to make. It is tragic and heartbreaking in the fact that these bills would demean the women who had to make these decisions by suggesting that this is something the government should decide for them instead of the woman with her family and with her doctor it is again nothing but tragic. I dont understand how people can think the government was better positioned to make these personal decisions than women and their families in their doctors. Protecting pregnant women, new mothers and children, is aboutns more than scoring political points with antichoice legislation. It is about ensuring that women have access to Maternity Care, that means prenatal care and that having access to Affordable HealthInsurance Coverage and that is why this is so hollow. People who are speaking on the floor who are supporting these bills are not talking about improving the lives of women and children but right now this administration is in court back the lawsuit that would tear down the informal correct despite the fact that there is no alternative if the aca is struck down. If the administration and state succeeds striking down the Affordable Care act we will go back to the days when Insurance Companies can include Maternity Care from coverage and when women can be charged higher premiums than men and if they succeed the Medicaid Expansion would be gone and states would have fewer dollars to cover more people at a time when 43 of childbirth in this country are covered and paid for by medicaid. These are the fundamental issues that are at stake for women and families across this country. Given these stakes i am disappointed that here we are again debating to antichoice bills that the Senate Already rejected. Senate debate from yesterday. We take you live to hear from the public and leaders after their party meeting. Good afternoon everyone. We just spent close to an hour with attorney general barr and let me just make a couple of points. First, he enjoys overwhelming support of our conference and we all think hes doing an outstanding job. His reason for coming out today was that we have these expiring intelligence provisions