ST. LOUIS, Missouri — U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) said she would use a second term in the Senate to advocate for banning assault weapons nationwide and relaxing restrictions on taxpayer funded abortions.
In an interview on The Record, Duckworth said she would repeal the Hyde Amendment provisions which bar women on Medicaid or in the military from using taxpayer-funded health insurance coverage for most abortion procedures.
"I think the Hyde Amendment is wrong and I support overturning the Hyde Amendment," she said. "If you come into southern Illinois, and you go to some of the Planned Parenthood clinics, you're seeing women coming from as far as Texas just to get IUDs put in because they can't access it themselves."
"I think that the way forward is to codify Roe v. Wade into law and overturn the Hyde Amendment because I think that low-income women should have the same access to reproductive choice as wealthy women," she also said.
Trial lawyer Kathy Salvi, Duckworth's Republican challenger, opposes abortion.
In a recent exchange before the Daily Herald, Duckworth rebuffed Salvi's claim that she would not support any restrictions on late-term abortions in the third trimester.
"I support codifying Roe v. Wade with the limits within Roe v. Wade, which is viability at 24 weeks," Duckworth said. "Roe v. Wade...we've lived under it for over 50 years...let's just codify that into law."
"I think that's what most Americans want...what Kathy wants is a complete ban on abortion including no exceptions for rape, incest, or for the health of the mother," Duckworth said.
Duckworth voted for the bipartisan gun safety legislation that passed in the wake of mass shootings at a school in Uvalde, Texas, and at a July 4th parade in Highland Park, Illinois, but said she would like to see Congress go a step farther.
"I do think there needs to be an assault weapons ban along with a high-capacity magazine ban as well," she said. "One of the things that law enforcement tells me is the most common denominator in mass shootings across this country -- and that's a shooting where three or more people are injured -- is an assault weapon of some sort and it's the high-capacity magazines."
"I think we need to support a law enforcement with more funding for law enforcement officers. We need to support the officers themselves, said. "But we do need that ban."
5 On Your Side has invited Kathy Salvi to come on The Record before the election on Nov. 8.
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