Klobuchar: Narrower Federal Abortion Legislation ‘Doesn’t Explicitly Stop States from Limiting Access’ to Abortion

On Tuesday’s broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) rejected legislation on federal abortion law proposed by Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) that is narrower than the Women’s Health Protection Act because their legislation “doesn’t explicitly stop states from limiting access.”

Host Steve Inskeep asked, [relevant exchange begins around 3:05] “Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have offered a narrower alternative that would support the right to abortion, but it’s narrower. It would likely get more votes. It would likely get a majority of votes, as a matter of fact. Why not go for that?”

Klobuchar responded, “Well, let me make this clear. What our bill does is it says very straight, it says that doctors and hospitals can follow the rules that we have right now with Roe v. Wade. And my problem with the bill that they have introduced is that it doesn’t explicitly stop states from limiting access. There are states doing crazy things right now. Missouri is considering a law that would actually allow you to sue if a woman tried to go across state lines to get an abortion. Louisiana is advancing a law that says it’s homicide if there’s an abortion after an egg is fertilized. Those are the kinds of things that we’re looking at right now. Medication abortions, a lot of young women are using that, yet 19 states have put in bans or restrictions. So that’s why I’m concerned if you narrow it so that some of these restrictions are already allowed to stand.”

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