 I want to start by recognizing the overwhelming victory for the right to abortion in Kansas last night. Since the day the Supreme Court struck down the right to abortion and appended the lives of women across the country, the American people have been using their voices to speak out against Republicans' extreme bans. And now, for the first time since the Dove decision, they've had the chance to speak with their votes. And they send a message loud and clear. People do not want their fundamental rights stripped away. They will not forget Republicans' cruelty and dragging us back half a century. And when abortion is at stake, they're not going to stay on the sidelines. Madam President, last night the people of Kansas sent a message as clear as any I've ever seen in politics. Now today we're going to see if Republicans are finally getting that message or if they're going to continue to ignore the American people. Because Democrats are here today with legislation to protect doctors providing legal abortion care and make sure they can do their jobs, practice medicine and save lives without the threat of legal action. I really can't believe we need this bill at all. We're talking about doctors who are following the law and simply want to provide care to their patients. It's not enough for Republicans that their cruel abortion bans have meant appointments that have been canceled, prescriptions that have been denied, doctors forced to wait until patients got sicker, wait until women are actually at the desk door before they can provide life saving care. Nope, they're going to go further than that. Now they're coming after doctors providing legal abortion care too. I really can't emphasize that enough. These doctors are following the law and still facing legal threats and harassment. That was Senator Patty Murray on Wednesday making the case for her legislation that would protect doctors from lawsuits. Now the reason why this legislation is necessary is because in some states who have banned abortion but they create exceptions for rape or to protect the life of the mother, these are really ill-defined legal ray areas and doctors don't have the confidence that they won't be prosecuted if they do what is necessary to serve these women. And even for women who have had miscarriages, doctors are still apprehensive about doing the proper procedure on them because they don't want to be accused of doing an abortion on a live fetus. They don't want to be prosecuted. So a lot of times if doctors choose to still serve these patients and don't turn them away altogether, they might have the woman produce them with an abundance of evidence. So in Texas, for example, one doctor made a woman get three different ultrasounds just to confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that the fetus was no longer alive. So this is what's happening. And you saw Patty Murray wonder aloud whether or not Republicans would support this bill because it really is the bare minimum. I mean, they claim that they're not this extreme, right? They support exceptions for rape or incest or when the life of the mother is in danger. So they're going to support this, right? So doctors can protect these women. Well, the answer is no. Senator Patty Murray tweets, Republicans just blocked my bill that would protect doctors from being investigated or thrown in jail for providing abortion care in states where it's legal. First, they attacked women. Now they're coming for doctors, too. It's unbelievable. Now specifically, Republican Senator of Indiana, Mike Brown, blocked her bill as Jake Johnson of Common Dreams reported on August 3rd. So they won't even protect doctors from doing what's legal. This is how extreme the modern GOP has become. And to be clear, it's not like they've just suddenly become more far, right? They've always been this extreme. It's just that they've kind of hit the ball for years and now they're letting their freak flag fly, as Kyle Kalinski would say, and they're showing to all Americans that this is who they are. Even in states where there are exceptions, they still don't want to protect these doctors. And look, even if, you know, you're a doctor and you perform these procedures and you get evidence to protect yourself, you consult with an attorney before you do this procedure, that might shield you from jail in the absence of these laws. But still, if an attorney's general wants to go after you, as some Republican attorneys general have gone after abortion doctors, if somebody wants to sue you for allegedly conducting an abortion on a live fetus, even if you're not going to go to jail, just paying for legal fees would destroy you. So these doctors, they need a law like this just to function, just to continue practicing medicine. But these Republicans are so extreme that they're saying, we don't even support that. So once again, Republicans are spinning in the faces of Americans who are mobilized on this issue. Now, we're not going to get into this particular story, but I'd recommend this article from Elena Vagianos of HuffPost, who details the dedication of these pro-choice advocates who have been knocking on doors in 103 degree heat to get the word out about this ballot initiative, which they successfully defeated in Kansas, as Patty Murray pointed out in her speech. So that's who the GOP is trying to fight against. Women who believe so strongly in their right to reproductive health care that they are willing to risk their own health and canvas in 103 degree weather. That is dedication right there. And the GOP just gave those women the middle finger. Now, what makes this victory for Kansas even more incredible is the fact that the GOP tried to use deceptive tactics to do people into supporting their forced brother agenda. So let's look at the actual ballot initiative. So as you can see, the left side is somewhat more clear if you want to read that, but let's read the right side. And this is where the options are, where you'll cast your vote. So this is the most important part, arguably. So it says, because Kansans value both women and children, the constitution of the state of Kansas does not require government funding of abortion and does not create or secure a right to abortion. To the extent permitted by the constitution of the United States, the people through their elected state representatives and state senators may pass laws regarding abortion, including, but not limited to laws that account for circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest or circumstances of necessity to save the life of the mother. So if you were voting there, think about how confusing that is. Are you voting to protect women when it comes to, you know, these cases of rape and to save their mother? Or are you voting to stop the GOP from amending the constitution to allow for an abortion ban? Like they purposefully wrote this in a way to mislead voters. But yet it still was defeated in a landslide. That goes to show you how powerful the pro-choice movement is. And, you know, even though there's some Republicans who are going to dig their heels in and they're not going to budge, some GOP senators are vocalizing a little bit of concern about how far their party has gone. And they're now kind of maybe implying we might have fucked ourselves by being so fucking extreme. As HuffPost reports, Republican senators were surprised by Tuesday's huge win for abortion rights in Kansas, of all places, even as they sought to downplay the electoral implications for their party ahead of November's midterm elections. It's definitely a wake-up call for us, Senator Lindsey Graham acknowledged on Wednesday, Kansas, which is a pretty red state, it's hard to find the words. I think people should look at it, added Senator Tom Tillis when asked for his reaction on the vote. Republicans argue that concerns over heightened inflation, particularly gas and food prices, coupled with poor approval ratings for President Joe Biden, will dwarf the issue of abortion and push them to victory in both the US House and the Senate. Quote, I think the biggest motivator for voters this time is going to be the economy Senator Roy Blunt predicted on Wednesday. Look, and to Roy Blunt's point, it's part cope, but it's also part true. Some people might still choose to prioritize the economy and inflation as a more salient issue because abortion perhaps, even if they feel strongly about it, it doesn't affect them as concretely as you know, gas prices or inflation does. So that may be true. But still, you have to acknowledge that there was no question that Republicans would sweep come November and then the Supreme Court decided to overturn Roe v. Wade and to make matters worse, the GOP all openly started to explain how, hey, our next step is a total abandon abortion and maybe we'll introduce that legislation if we take back power. And now you have voters saying, absolutely not. More Americans than ever identify as pro-choice. Did you know that? So 55% of Americans identify as pro-choice. And even if they don't necessarily self-identify as pro-choice, they still support abortion rights. Perhaps, you know, you can shift on the spectrum where they draw the line, right? But for the most part, most people believe that abortion should be offered in this country to women. So the GOP is spitting in their faces and they're still acting overly confident when you just mobilized a whole new base of people who perhaps wouldn't have turned out. So, you know, this is a sign that they are realizing that they kind of fucked up. They're seeing this backfire in real time. And for Lindsey Graham to admit, oh, this is definitely a wake-up call for us. This is him like sending the bat signal to Republicans to shut the fuck up. You're killing our chances, please stop. But I love it. Keep talking. Keep showing all of us how fucking extreme you are because voters will remember this in November.