KGVO Radio - Missoula, Mont.
Daines – GOP Senators Decry ‘Women’s Health Protection Act’
By Peter Christian
Senator Steve Daines, along with several other GOP Senators, held a press conference in Washington, D.C. on Monday to call attention to what is entitled the ‘Women’s Health Protection Act’ which will be introduced on the floor of the Senate on Monday night.
Daines and his fellow senators said the bill would be more accurately titled ‘The Abortion on Demand until Birth’ act.
“Sadly, on an evening when the world is focused on the war that's going on in Ukraine while Vladimir Putin is overtaking the country of Ukraine; this same evening, the United States Senate will be voting on the most extreme legislation on abortion ever considered in the history of this body,” said Senator Daines. “Let me say that again. This evening, the United States Senate will be voting on The most extreme legislation on abortion ever considered in the history of this body.”
Daines said since the U.S. Supreme Court may be near to a decision to overturn Roe v Wade that Democrats are doubling down on what he terms ‘this radical legislation’.
“So, we're going to talk about what's really going on with this vote tonight,” he said. “This is the holy grail. Abortion is the holy grail, and this bill is the holy grail of the radical pro abortion agenda. 71 percent of the American people are opposed to late term abortions. This bill would codify the ability for the federal government to step on the states to allow abortions up until the second before birth.”
Daines then read directly from the bill.
“Reproductive justice seeks to address restrictions on reproductive health, including abortion, that perpetuate systems of oppression, lack of bodily autonomy and white supremacy,” he read. “That is in the findings of this bill that's going to be voted on the floor of the U.S. Senate tonight.”
One aspect of the bill’s language that Daines quoted deals with the possibility that a transgender man may also become pregnant and want an abortion.
“It says this,” he said. “The terms ‘woman’ and ‘women’ are used in this bill to reflect the identity of the majority of people targeted by restrictions on abortion services. And if you read a little further if you're kind of puzzled by majority of those who are pregnant or women, it says three lines down; ‘This act is intended to protect all people with a capacity for pregnancy, and then it talks about transgender men becoming pregnant.”
Others speaking at the press conference called by Senator Daines included James Lankford of Oklahoma, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Mike Lee of Utah, Roger Marshall of Kansas, and Todd Young of Indiana.
Watch the press conference here.