TRANSCRIPT: Majority Leader Schumer Remarks At A Press Conference On The Fight To Protect Abortion Rights Against MAGA Republicans Following The 50th Anniversary Of Roe
Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the importance of continuing the fight for abortion rights following the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:
On Sunday, what should have been the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, America mourned. Instead, America mourned. We mourned the fact that millions of women and girls now have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers. We mourned the loss of individual freedom. We mourn the loss of a woman's right to choose. So on Sunday, which should have been a day of celebration, was a day of mourning.
Last year, after decades of plotting, and insidious efforts, the MAGA Supreme Court stripped millions of women of the right to abortion, putting the power to make personal health care decisions firmly in the hands of MAGA extreme Republicans. Immediately after the Dobbs decision, Leader McConnell threatened a nationwide a nationwide abortion ban, meaning no one in any state is safe. And Senator Graham proposed concrete legislation to do so.
This was a clear message from MAGA Republicans to women across the country: your body, their choice. Women's bodies, MAGA Republicans’ choice. How awful? How un-American? And what did the House Republicans do right after they finally got through their dysfunctional leadership fight? They continued their anti-abortion attacks with extreme legislation that intimidates and threatens doctors into not providing abortions and would make abortion access even more difficult than it is already.
So that's not just rhetoric. They're trying to pass legislation.
The American people rejected this type of extreme MAGA Republicanism in the last election. The American people said, ‘Hell no’ to efforts to undermine abortion access in the country, as the last election showed. America is on our side completely, completely. If you look across the board with what people think. The contrast is clearer than ever. Democrats will keep fighting for women and the right to choose, while MAGA Republicans keep pushing to make abortions illegal nationwide, tried to punish women and doctors, and even push bans with no exceptions for rape or incest.
But we are the bulwark. What they are trying to do will not pass, will not stand. We will not let it happen. Absolutely. And when the American people voted for a Democratic Senate and even increased our number against all odds, they were saying protect women's rights and we will. We stand, Senate Democrats, stand with the American people and with American women.
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