Klobuchar: Republican Party Doubling Down on ‘Criminalizing Women’

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that she believed the Republican Party is doubling down on “criminalizing women” with their abortion laws.

Partial transcript as follows:

KARL: And here now is Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar.

KARL: Let’s start with the abortion ruling. The Supreme Court has issued this stay. But it’s only until Wednesday. How do you expect this to play out?

KLOBUCHAR: To me, this is unbelievable. This is a drug that has been on the market for over 20 years. FDA does a thorough review, finds it safe. You’ve got it safe in 60 countries. It’s used in over half of the abortions. One judge from Amarillo Texas, two judges on the 5th Circuit, all of them Trump appointed, should not be making the decision for women across the country. What is it going to be next? Is that judge not going to like birth control pills? Are we going to have a judge that doesn’t like Lipitor?

There’s a reason that Congress gave FDA the power to make these decisions about safety. So, this is coming up before the Supreme Court. The Justice Department is aggressively pursuing this case. And as it is right now, literally, these judges decided — well, you’re not going to be able to take it up to ten weeks. We think it better to do seven weeks. Well, you can’t get it in a pharmacy and you can’t get it by the mail, so good luck.

KARL: So, what do you expect this court to do, the Supreme Court? Will it uphold?

KLOBUCHAR: I think this one is really interesting because they have interpreted what we call standing, the ability to sue pretty narrowly at times. And in this case, you have the American Medical Association way out there, not a radical group —

KARL: Right.

KLOBUCHAR: — saying this drug is safe.

Then, you have the small group of people that brought this suit and they’re claiming, oh, this is stressful for us because it’s against our morals.

Okay, fine. But that is not the standard for standing to bring a suit. You’ve got to show harm or the expectation of some harm. And I can tell you who’s harmed by this — it’s women that are going to have to take a bus across the country, from Texas to Minnesota or Illinois. That’s the problem right now.

KARL: And if the court does uphold this, what are your options?

KLOBUCHAR: Well, the first one is to continue to aggressively litigate it. Remember, there’s another case out of Washington state —

KARL: Washington.

KLOBUCHAR: — that applies to 17 states, including my state, that is also going to work its way up through the court. So, they’re ultimately going to make the decision. So, this is about the stay during that time.

So, aggressive litigation. The second thing is realizing where the voters of this country are — 70 percent to 80 percent are with us. The Republican Party however is not backing down, it is doubling down, putting in six-week abortion bans in Florida. What you’ve seen with criminalizing women. Trying to criminalize doctors. This is an outrageous position for them to take. So, ultimately, yes, this will get resolved state by state, but it’s going to get resolved in the ballot box in the 2024 election.

KARL: So, this will be a central issue in 2024?

KLOBUCHAR: Yes, it will.

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN