Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The 51st Anniversary Of Roe v. Wade
Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the importance of continuing the fight for abortion rights on the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:
Today, January 22nd, 2024, should have marked 51 years of Roe v. Wade.
The anniversary of Roe should be a joyous day for America – a day when the Supreme Court officially recognized a woman’s right to make her own decisions about her body.
But for decades, the hard-right has made it their mission to overturn Roe and dismantle a woman’s fundamental right to choose.
And in 2022 – tragically, alarmingly, outrageously – the hard-right succeeded when a 5-4 majority of extremist judges on the Supreme Court overturned Roe, inflicting the greatest restriction of rights on Americans in 50 years.
It has been just a year and a half since the disastrous Dobbs decision, but it has already proved to be one of the worst, most damaging decisions for Americans in modern history.
Since the hard-right’s Roe reversal, one in three Americans has lost abortion access. 21 states have enacted draconian, near-total abortion bans. Republicans in Florida just introduced a ban on nearly all abortions, even – even – in the case of rape and incest.
And earlier this month, the Supreme Court allowed an extreme abortion ban denying women critical emergency care to go back into effect.
And make no mistake about it, the hard-right won’t stop there; they will keep going until a federal abortion ban is the law of the land.
Let me say that again: the hard-right will keep going until a federal abortion ban is the law of the land.
Because of the hard-right’s policies, women and girls today are growing up in a world with fewer liberties than previous generations. My granddaughter will have fewer rights than her grandmother.
These extreme bans have caused chaos, inflicted irreparable harm to thousands and thousands of women whose stories we will never hear of.
Democrats will not accept this new MAGA status quo, and neither will the American people.
Since the Dobbs decision, people in states like Ohio and Kentucky and Kansas and Michigan have defeated efforts at the ballot box to restrict abortion access and protect a woman’s right to choose. The message from the American people to MAGA extremists has been loud, clear, and unmistakable: back off our fundamental rights.
And make no mistake, a woman’s right to choose will remain a defining issue for Americans as this year progresses.
So, we still have a long way to go, but Democrats will never stop fighting for a woman’s right to choose.
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