[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 114 (Tuesday, July 12, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3218-S3219]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
U.S. Supreme Court
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, on June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court
overturned Roe v. Wade, returning the question of abortion to the
States and to the people and their elected representatives.
The Supreme Court's decision was an affirmation of democracy, which
had been set aside by Roe in favor of a national abortion regime
imposed upon the entire country by a handful of activist Justices. Roe
took legislative power out of the hands of the people and put it in the
hands of unelected Justices on nonexistent constitutional grounds. The
Supreme Court's decision puts the question of abortion back in the
hands of the States and the people and their elected representatives,
where it should always have been.
I am profoundly grateful for this decision, most especially because
of what is at stake here, because the Roe decision was not a failure of
constitutional jurisprudence on some arcane point; it was a failure
that infringed on our most fundamental rights as human beings--in fact,
on the fundamental right: the right to life.
Roe not only allowed for but imposed a regime that forced States to
legalize the killing of unborn human beings. So the decision to
overturn Roe not only affirms democracy and repairs a constitutional
wrong, it allows for the righting of a profound moral wrong: the legal
killing of unborn Americans.
The Supreme Court's decision does not, of course, make abortion
illegal, but it will finally--finally--allow those States to choose to
put in place protections for unborn children.
[[Page S3219]]
Since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion through all 9 months of
pregnancy, more than 63 million children have been killed in this
country by abortion--63 million. It is an unfathomable number and,
frankly, a heartbreaking number. To put it into some kind of
perspective, that is more than twice the population of the State of
Texas and more than 70 times the population of my home State of South
Dakota. Sixty-three million. Sixty-three million unique, unrepeatable
human beings--future doctors and nurses and farmers and teachers and
busdrivers and plumbers and scientists. That is a lot of innocent lives
lost.
And, yes, when we talk about unborn babies, we are talking about
human lives. Members of the pro-abortion left would like to obscure
this fact, but science and medical technology and plain old common
sense, I would add, all clearly demonstrate the humanity of the unborn
child. Every mom who has ever felt her unborn baby kick is well aware
that she isn't just carrying around a clump of cells, and ultrasound
technology and medical advancements have made the humanity of the
unborn child even more undeniable. It is impossible to hear the
heartbeat of an unborn child at 6 weeks and say that he or she is not
alive. It is impossible to look at an unborn baby on an ultrasound
kicking her feet and moving her hands and sucking her thumb and to
pretend that she is anything but a human being. And human beings
deserve to be protected.
Democrats' response to the Dobbs decision has been predictably
hysterical. We have heard cries to pack the Supreme Court because
apparently the only legitimate Supreme Court is a Supreme Court that
rules in line with Democrats' policy preferences. We have heard cries
to abolish the filibuster and to eliminate protections for the minority
party in the Senate and the Americans whom it represents. We have heard
a proposal to establish abortion facilities in national parks.
I am struggling to think of any family who wants an abortion facility
to be part of the itinerary offered on their trip to Yellowstone or the
Badlands of South Dakota; but, apparently, some Democrats think our
national parks should become abortion factories.
Then, of course, there is the flood of misinformation out there
falsely suggesting that pro-life laws would prevent women from getting
essential medical care for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies. And on
top of all this, multiple Democrats have started a crusade against
pregnancy resource centers. That is right. Pregnancy resource centers--
which were established to provide moms in need with things like diapers
and baby clothes, prenatal and parenting classes, help connecting with
State and local resources, emotional support, and agency referrals for
moms who want to choose adoption--are now under attack by members of
the Democratic Party.
Apparently, the pro-choice party can't stand the idea that women
might be offered a choice other than abortion.
When the Dobbs decision was handed down, the President called it a
sad day for our country--a sad day. To the President and his party,
apparently it is a sad day when the doors open to greater protection
for human life and human rights. I would say that it is a sad day when
the right to kill unborn human beings has become the signature issue of
the Democratic Party, when the party that portrays itself as the
defender of the little guy has become the party that wants to deny even
the smallest protection to the littlest guys and girls among us.
The Democrats' vision of America is not my vision of America. I
believe that America is big enough to take care of both moms and their
babies. We don't have to pit moms and babies against each other. We can
take care of them both. It is something the pro-life movement has been
focused on for years and something that a number of States have worked
to do with their Alternatives to Abortion programs. And I know that
commitment will only grow in the wake of the Dobbs decision.
Those who seek to deny human rights to some human beings are never
found to be on the right side of history, as our Nation knows, to its
sorrow. Our country was founded to protect human rights--the right to
life, to liberty, and to the pursuit of happiness; but for almost 50
years now, our country has failed to protect the human rights of unborn
human beings.
Today, thanks to the Dobbs decision, we have a chance to change that.
We have a chance to build a society where the life of every American is
valued and where being small and vulnerable does not mean that your
human rights are any less respected. At our best, we are a country that
defends human rights, not denies them. We stand up for the innocent. We
protect them. We fight for them. It is time to live up to that.
The Dobbs decision gives us a chance to protect the human rights of
the smallest and most innocent humans among us, but the Dobbs decision
would never have happened without the tireless work of so many since
the day Roe v. Wade was decided. It would never have happened without
those who prayed, who offered help to moms in need, who fought for the
rights of unborn Americans in elections, in courts, and in State
legislatures.
``Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,'' it says in
the book of Proverbs, and for 50 years that is what members of the pro-
life movement have done. And it is their work that has brought us to
this day when we finally, once again, have a chance to protect innocent
unborn Americans in law. May the Lord reward their work and their wages
be full from the Lord.
I know that sometimes it seemed like the day when Roe v. Wade would
be overturned would never come, but it is here. And while there is
still much work to be done to ensure that the human rights of unborn
Americans are respected and that moms and their babies have the support
they need, it is, nevertheless, a moment for joy and for gratitude. I
am profoundly grateful for this decision, profoundly grateful that we
now have the opportunity to move closer to the day when we fully live
up to our founding principles and ensure that every American--born or
unborn--has the opportunity for life, for liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Texas.