women's autonomy and their rights, i urge them all to join me in voting the women health protection act. the american people are watching. women everywhere are depending on us. we cannot let them down. i yield. >> mr. president, abortion is a heavy issue. we are used to in this body debating marginal tax m rates ad debating spending bills. this is different. this debate cuts to the heart of who we are, what we owe each other and what kind of society kind of society we want to build. the moral weight of this debate is heavy. social media, of course makes it worse, makes it ugly, makes it stupid. not enough compassion, honesty

and genuine good faith disagreements are really hard to come by. to talk about abortion well we need to o actually listen to eah other and we need to try to understand the best arguments of the other side and take those arguments seriously. for democrats, debating law has to start with recognizing that most americans believe that unborn lives deserved to be protected at some point during a pregnancy. it is deeply human and deeply compassionate to recognize the humanity of an unborn life. scientific advances like ultrasounds give us a glimpse into the lives of the unborn. first and black-and-white and now in 3 d and it will be clearer and clearer over time what that little baby is. in any honest conversation about abortion, it must grapple with the fact that any abortion begins with two lives and destroys one of them. it is deeply wrong to ask americans to participate in an

act that they know takes an innocent life. for republicans to debate well we need to be willing to be honest about the fact that some women pregnancy can be frightening and painful for them pregnancy changes a woman's life in a way that is absolutely unique in human experience. there is no equivalent to pregnancy. there is no example that we can compare it to. that is why the pro-life cause cannot be about legislation or policy. the pro-life cause must start with active compassion for moms and babies and especially women who had the first thought i can't do this. to the pro-life movement i want to recognize your patience and perseverance over decades. we should command the love,

persuasion and prudence that is brought us to the place that we are at today. pro-lifers show up for women and babies every single day. i see it all over nebraska and i know it's true across all 50 states. pro-lifers and especially pro-life women support women through pregnancy care centers. they work in local communities to build support networks. they are persuading their neighbors and growing a movement that supports life. we do not have the massive warchest in the fancy pr shops that planned parenthood does, but wela do have is truth and le they provide women and their babies with free help. lots of free help. the volunteers that show up every single day do not do it for money. they do d it out of love. thousands of pro-life families adopt kids every year and their heartsw overflow with love as they welcome a new child into their family.

that is the core meaning of the pro-life movement. it is not about legislation first or about legislation second or legislation third period advocates for abortion on demand are doing a lot of fear mongering. we have heard a lot of bizarre speeches on the floor the last couple of days that are so disconnected from the reality to the text to the legislation before us. so much of what they are pushing is wildly out of touch with the public and wildly out of touch with modern science. we already know that america's abortion laws are far, far more permissive than europe's and on the subject our laws have a lot more in common with the human rights abusers china and north korea than with anything in french law. the legislation before us today would make our laws even more extreme depending on how you count, we at the four-seven most extreme pro- abortion laws of

any of the 200 nations on earth and the legislation before the senate today would make the u.s. position even more extreme. there was a time when the democratic party talked about abortion as safe, legal and rare safe, legal and rare. not anymore. this legislation is not from your mom's democratic party. in recent years, we have taken both on my legislation, the survivors protection act, pretty simple straightforward bill that aims to protect babies that survived botched abortions. no restrictions on abortion access in my bill, just a simple requirement that if the baby is born alive in an abortion clinic, she must receive the same level of care she whatever received should she have been born in a hospital. if senator schumer and the abortion lobby have filibustered this legislation over and over, it is so weird.

the abortion industry lobbyists have bullied leader schumer and all but one courageous democratic senator my friend joe mansion into an extreme position that does not reflect even the majority opinion in the democratic party today let alone the majority position of americans. this bill today is ugly. winner takes all politics. it is all aggressive pro- abortion provisions. let's consider just a few. it would formally create a national right to abortion up until the moment of birth in all 50 states and that would undo even state -based partial birth abortion bans. today's legislation would prohibit states from requiring parental consent to perform abortions on a child's. it would prohibit the states from passing any laws to ban sex selective abortions.

it would be an any laws to prevent state, ban any laws that states would to try to prevent selection abortions. it wouldrm create a right for non-doctors to perform abortions putting women in severe risk of complication and botched procedures. it would remove conscience protections that keep americans from being forced to afford or fund abortions if they have moral objections. think about that. it would force catholic hospitals to perform abortions. that is new. that is gross. where is the tolerance? where is the compassion? where is the humanity? where is the attempt to understand that the majority of americans want therens to be prohibition on abortion at some point in the pregnancy. americans do not want the kind

of radicalism we see in this bill before us today. in recent polling, 65% of american they they support banning abortion in the second trimester and 80% support banning abortion in the third trimester. why? one of the reasons as they have seen a lot of images of what a baby looks like in utero in thee second and third trimester. just to reiterate, contrary to the last, i guess a couple speeches ago, 80% of americans want to see abortion banned in the third trimester. it is hard to get 80% of americans to agree on anything and yet 80% agreed that the third trimester abortion, the kindke of thing that this bill wants to make sure it's explicitly champions, state could not prevent and prohibit third trimester abortions. that is what this bill is about. this bill is incredibly extreme.

there is no moderation in this bill. just brutal indifference hiding. fortunately, it will not pass. unfortunately, our debate about it is not very honest here. fortunately, the pro- abortion lobby is not winning weird majority leader schumer will get kudos for today but he will not convince anyone. as we look beyond today's gross vote as we look to the future, our focus should be on continuing to grow the pro-lifed coalition in this country. we can and we must build support across the country for an ethic that protects wife.oc i want to lock arms with pro-life democrats and work to build a culture of life. if we compare certain pro-life laws with increased spending on prenatal care and safety nets for struggling moms, count me in i am for that kind of big new coalition. let's do it.

this movement is about hearts and minds. we've got to have difficult conversations in love and we've tigot to reject the kind of extremism that senator schumer is putting on the floor today pursuing this bill., we have to focus our work on our localds communities on changing our neighbors minds on understanding each other and setting an example by putting moms and babies first. the answer after this bill fails today is to remember that love is stronger than power. that is why life is going to win being pro-life is pro- science, pro- mom and pro- baby. it means starting with love, not with legislation and it definitely does not mean starting with the grotesque legislation that will be voted down this afternoon. thank you, mr. president. >> the senate fell short of the required 60 votes needed to