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05/01/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 05/01/2024 10:16

Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Republicans’ Anti-Abortion Rights Records And The Extreme Six Week Abortion Ban Going Into Effect In Florida Today

Washington, D.C.- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor regarding Florida's dangerous abortion ban that goes into effect today, banning abortions at only six weeks, before most women even know they're pregnant. Leader Schumer stressed that Republicans who forced the overturn of Roe are responsible for these extreme bans. Below are Senator Schumer's remarks which can also be viewed here:

This morning, unfortunately, the people of Florida woke up to one of the cruelest, most extreme, most dangerous abortion bans in the country.

Starting today, Florida is outlawing most abortions after just six weeks - just six weeks, before many women even know they're pregnant.

Let me say that again, because the American people need to hear what Republican-led states are doing: a new Florida law goes into effect today that bans most abortions after just six weeks - before many women even know they're pregnant.

Florida's new abortion ban is draconian to the core. It rips away women's freedom to make their own decisions about their bodies. It blocks thousands of women from accessing basic reproductive care. And horrifically, it leaves millions of women across the southeast - already an abortion care desert - with little or no options.

If you live anywhere in the southeast, the odds are you now need to drive as far as Virginia or farther just to get reproductive care - a burden most people can't realistically take on. It's utter cruelty.

Sadly, abortion bans like the one in Florida didn't happen in a vacuum. Today is yet another consequence of the hard-right MAGA Supreme Court's disastrous decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. It is the consequence of decades of the hard right trying to pack our courts with radical jurists.

And in case people forgot, President Donald Trump proudly reminded us a month ago that he and MAGA Republicans are to blame for the annihilation of Roe.

To this day, the former president and MAGA Republicans continue to boast their radical views on abortion, despite those views being wildly out of step with the American people. Let's not forget that the majority - the vast majority - of Floridians don't agree with Florida's new abortion ban, much less the vast majority of Americans.

Make no mistake: Republicans will have to answer for their anti-abortion records today, tomorrow, and at the ballot box in November.

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