Barbara Boxer

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Thank you very much. I say to my friend that I thank him for sharing the story on the floor of the Senate. He has the photo of Kim and her husband up there. He read the story into the Record. I think it is very appropriate that the Senator from Iowa do so because this is a couple whom he knows. I am, in a way, happy that my friend was not on the floor when the Senator from Pennsylvania used some very tough words in talking about this procedure and calling doctors who perform it executioners. I say to my friend, in light of the poignant story he read to us, when he thinks of the doctor who helped this couple through a traumatic, horrific experience twice, what are his feelings about the doctor who performed that particular procedure?

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, will my friend hold the floor for a moment so I may ask him a question?

Mrs. BOXER. So the Roe v. Wade decision, as my friend has pointed out, in his words, was an ``elegant decision.'' And why does he say that? Because it did balance the mother's rights with the rights of the fetus. Because it said, previability, the woman had the unfettered right to choose and in the late-term the State could regulate. Roe v. Wade was a ``Solomon-like'' decision in that sense. I again want to say to my friend, I greatly appreciate him offering this second-degree amendment to my amendment. I think it is important for us to support Roe v. Wade in this Congress. I think if we do, it will be a relief to many women and families in this country who are concerned that that basic right might be taken away because there are many people running for the highest office in the land who do not support Roe, who want to see it overturned, who might well appoint Judges to the Court who would take away this right to choose, which is hanging by a thread in Court as it is. So I, most of all, thank my friend for offering this amendment.

Mrs. BOXER. Under the table and risked their lives and their ability to have children later and were scarred for life.

Mrs. BOXER. I say to my friend, I remember those days. Further, even when women who did have the wherewithal, sometimes they resorted to a back-alley abortion and paid the money----

Mrs. BOXER. Exactly.

Mrs. BOXER. So I am very grateful to my friend for giving us a chance to talk about that because I wonder if my friend was aware that prior to the legalization of abortion, which is what Roe did in 1973, the leading cause of maternal death in this Nation was illegal abortion. Was my friend aware of that?

Mrs. BOXER. I am very grateful to the Senator from Iowa for this amendment. It is interesting to me; in all the years I have been in the Senate, we have never had a straight up-or-down vote on whether this Senate agrees with the Supreme Court decision that gave women the right to choose.

Mrs. BOXER. Would my friend yield for a question?

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Mikulski follow Senator Brownback and be recognized for 10 minutes.

Mrs. BOXER. Will the Senator yield for a unanimous-consent request so that Senator Mikulski could follow the Senator?

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I know Senator Brownback is going to speak.

Mrs. BOXER. I thank the Chair. Let me say, the Senator from Arkansas said the charge of government is to protect innocent life. We all want to protect every life. But when it comes to pregnancy, we do have a law that prevails in this country, which my friend may not agree with --I have a hunch he doesn't--called Roe v. Wade. It was decided in 1973. In that decision, the Court said when it comes to abortion, in the first trimester a woman has the right to choose, without any interference by the Government; and after that time, the States can regulate and restrict, but always the life of the woman and the health of the woman must be protected. That is Roe. That is, it seems to me, a very sound decision. What we have in the Santorum bill is an out-and-out attack on that philosophy because there is no exception for health. My friend from Illinois, Senator Durbin, is trying to deal with that issue. I say to him, my compliments for working on his bill. The bottom line for this Senator: I want to make sure if my daughter or anybody else's daughter is in an emergency situation, that the doctor or doctors do not have to open up the law books and decide whether or not they can do what is necessary to save the health and life of my daughter. When one talks about innocent life, one must look at the faces involved. Here is a face of a beautiful young woman who wanted desperately to have children. I will tell her story later. She is an innocent person. Roe protects her; the Santorum bill leaves her out in the cold. So the Senator from Pennsylvania can engage me in debates all he wants as to when I believe life begins and when I think a baby is born. To me, it is very obvious when a baby is born. When it leaves the mother, it is born. That is pretty straightforward. I would prefer to leave the medical emergencies to the physicians. I think they know. This isn't a Roe procedure we are talking about. This is a procedure that the American College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians supports. They say they need it in their arsenal when they work to protect a woman's life and her health. The American Nurses Association--I could go on and on. At this time, I yield the floor and will come back to this as often as we have to until this debate concludes. I know Senator Wellstone has something to offer to the debate.

Mrs. BOXER. Ten minutes for Senator Lieberman, at which time we would go to Senator Brownback for 10 minutes. That is my unanimous consent request.

Mrs. BOXER. I will repeat it, as amended by my friend from Pennsylvania. It would be Boxer for 2 minutes, Wellstone for 10 minutes. How much time would Senator Lieberman like to have?

Mrs. BOXER. Absolutely.

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I will make a unanimous consent request. I hope it is OK with my colleague from Pennsylvania. I would like to speak for 2 minutes. I would like to ask unanimous consent that following that, Senator Wellstone take 10 minutes and, following that, Senator Lieberman be recognized.

Mrs. BOXER. I say to my friend, what I said was I wasn't answering those questions. What the Senator was trying to do was to bait me on his terms of how he sees this issue. We have a situation where this procedure is outlawed. It will hurt the women and the families of this country. My friend can disagree with that, but I never got into the issue of when is someone born. I said to you I am very clear on that, and I understand that completely, but it was my friend who kept on asking these questions, which to me do not make any sense because the issue here is an emergency procedure that my friend from Pennsylvania wants to make illegal, and it will hurt the women and it will hurt the families of this country.

Mrs. BOXER. I say to my friend, I know what I said. I am saying your characterization of what I said is incorrect. I didn't talk about the head or the foot. That was what my colleague talked about. And I don't appreciate it being misquoted on the floor over a subject that involves the health and life of the women of this country and the children of this country and the families of this country.

Mrs. BOXER. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. President. Let the Record show that I did not say what the Senator from Pennsylvania said that I did. Thank you.

Mrs. BOXER. Well, you were.

Mrs. BOXER. Let me say, this woman is not laughing right now because if this bill was the law of the land, she might either be dead or infertile. So if the Senator wants to laugh about this, he can laugh all he wants.

Mrs. BOXER. My friend is losing his temper. Let me say to my friend once again--and he is laughing----

Mrs. BOXER. I am not answering these questions.