Abortion

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, let me say how much I agree with the Senator from Virginia. I endorse completely what he said. I would make one amendment. Instead of just the compassion approach versus the criminal approach, it is the commonsense approach versus the criminal approach as well.

I do believe that the point has been made and demonstrated by what my colleague said here and what he has said in previous meetings that when we invest in family planning and sex education and good healthcare for women, we have fewer unplanned pregnancies and fewer abortions, period. Those policies that militate against that just increase the likelihood of abortion.

Let me also add something that I think pro-life and pro-choice should agree to come to terms with in unity. How in the world can we live in a country--the United States of America--with all its wealth and all its expertise, and have in the last 25 years the worst incidence of maternal mortality in civilized countries around the world? More women are dying in the United States giving birth today than 25 years ago. Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, wouldn't you agree this should be a high priority of our government--both parties--to reduce maternal mortality here in the United States?

I might add that infant mortality is still unacceptable in the United States. The rate of it is unacceptable.

Couldn't we agree, pro-life and pro-choice, to come together behind those two?

I am a cosponsor of a bill introduced by Congresswoman Robin Kelly of Illinois that she aptly entitled the ``MOMMA Act,'' which will try to deal with maternal mortality issues, particularly as they relate to women of color. And the irony, the surprise is that when you read the data, the incidence of maternal mortality among women of color does not track with poverty and education. It is a racial issue for reasons that are hard to explain, but she addresses it, and I have joined her in that effort.

The other point I would like to make is this: My colleague from Virginia has talked about efforts in State legislatures that have gone to extremes. What I call the Alabama two-step is the second step in that process.

We spend our time day after day, week after week putting men and women on the bench who were proposed by the Trump administration and pushed through as quickly as possible by the Republicans in the Senate who, frankly, are waiting for the day when they will have a chance to endorse, approve these statutes my colleague has described, which are extreme by any definition. That, to me, is problematic and troublesome for us as a nation, that we are moving toward that possibility.

I see that the Senator from South Dakota is on floor, and I believe he has a request to make.

I would like to ask unanimous consent, after his request, to be recognized again.

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