On the 3rd Anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Decision to Overturn Roe v Wade, Senator Hassan Speaks on Senate Floor About Reproductive Freedom

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan today delivered remarks on the floor of the U.S. Senate on the three-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson, which overturned Roe v. Wade and took away a woman’s fundamental freedom to make her own health care decisions.  

Click here to watch Senator Hassan’s remarks.

Key quotes from Senator Hassan:

• “What did the Dobbs decision mean? It took away a woman’s freedom to make deeply personal health decisions; the freedom to decide when and if to start a family; the freedom to get lifesaving care when a woman’s health is imperiled while pregnant. This is more than a freedom to get a specific medical procedure; in practice we’re talking about the freedom to chart one’s own future, a freedom which should be enjoyed by all free and equal citizens in a democracy.”
• “Since the Dobbs decision we’ve become a country where a fundamental freedom can vanish once a woman crosses a state line; we’ve returned to a kind of sectionalism of bygone eras that history should have taught us to avoid; where women who are pregnant and live in states with draconian laws banning abortion know that, in the event of a dire medical emergency, they may have to make a long drive to cross state lines or run the risk of being thrown in jail for just trying to get lifesaving care.”
• “Ultimately, behind all of this talk of laws and precedent; of state statutes and federal; behind all the medical discussions about women’s health care, the anniversary of the Supreme Court overturning Roe begs us to ask a question as simple and fundamental as they come... Do we believe that we are better off when everyone gets to chart their own future; in the land of the free do the full blessings of liberty belong to our daughters as well as our sons? And can a democracy like ours persist when, divided by state lines, half its people live half free?”
• “So, what is it, on this anniversary, that America’s women ask for? It’s simple. They want what all Americans want; their aspiration is to be free. And so long as we wish to call ourselves the world’s greatest democracy, the President and this body would do well to remember our country’s promise and heed their call.” 

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