Barbara Boxer

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. You are the one who is making these statements.

Mrs. BOXER. Absolutely not.

Mrs. BOXER. I hope not.

Mrs. BOXER. I will answer the question when the baby is born. The baby is born when the baby is outside the mother's body. The baby is born.

Mrs. BOXER. I am absolutely not suggesting that. You asked me a question, in essence, when the baby is born.

Mrs. BOXER. I am not suggesting that.

Mrs. BOXER. In the process of being born. This is why this conversation makes no sense, because to me it is obvious when a baby is born; to you it isn't obvious.

Mrs. BOXER. I can't believe the Senator from Pennsylvania has a question with it. I have never been troubled by this question. You give birth to a baby. The baby is there, and it is born, and that is my answer to the question.

Mrs. BOXER. That is the answer to the question.

Mrs. BOXER. The baby is born when the baby is born.

Mrs. BOXER. I would say when the baby is born, the baby is born and would then have every right of every other human being living in this country, and I don't know why this would even be a question.

Mrs. BOXER. Your wife gave birth. I gave birth. I can tell you, I know when the baby was born.

Mrs. BOXER. You didn't have any.

Mrs. BOXER. I had two babies, and within seconds of them being born-- --

Mrs. BOXER. You mean the baby has been birthed and is now in the mother's arms? It is a human being? It takes a second, it takes a minute----

Mrs. BOXER. Define ``separation.'' You answer that question.

Mrs. BOXER. I support the right--and I will repeat this, again, because I saw you ask the same question to another Senator.

Mrs. BOXER. I don't believe in killing any human being. That is absolutely correct. Nor do you, I am sure.

Mrs. BOXER. I will answer it again.

Mrs. BOXER. That is where I stand. No matter how you try to twist it, that is where I stand.

Mrs. BOXER. I am saying what Roe v. Wade says is, in the early stages of a pregnancy, a woman has the right to choose; in the later stages, the States have the right--yes--to come in and restrict. I support those restrictions, as long as two things happen: They respect the life of the mother and the health of the mother.

Mrs. BOXER. I will repeat. I will repeat, the Senator has asked me a question----

Mrs. BOXER. I am going to be clear when I get the floor. What you are trying to do is take away the rights of women and their families and their doctors to have a procedure. And now you are trying to turn the question into, When does life begin? I will talk about that on my own time.

Mrs. BOXER. I will tell you why I don't want to engage in this. You had the same conversation with a colleague of mine, and I never saw such a twisting of his remarks.

Mrs. BOXER. I would make this statement. That this Constitution as it currently is--some want to amend it to say life begins at conception. I think when you bring your baby home, when your baby is born--and there is no such thing as partial-birth--the baby belongs to your family and has the rights. But I am not willing to amend the Constitution to say that a fetus is a person, which I know you would. But we will get to that later. I know my colleague is engaging me in a colloquy on his time. I appreciate it. I will answer these questions. I think what my friend is doing, by asking me these questions, is off point. My friend wants to tell the doctors in this country what to do. My friend from Pennsylvania says they are rogue doctors. The AMA will tell you they no longer support the bill. The American Nurses don't support the bill. The obstetricians and gynecologists don't support the bill. So my friend can ask me my philosophy all day; on my own time I will talk about it.