[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 170 (Tuesday, October 31, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H11461-H11462]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PRESERVE ROE VERSUS WADE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentlewoman from California [Ms. Woolsey] is recognized 
during morning business for 4 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about H.R. 1833, a 
bill which would criminalize some late-term abortions.
  First of all, I would like to say, H.R. 1833, Mr. Canady's bill to 
criminalize specific late-term abortions is a cruel attempt to make a 
political point.
  Make no mistake about it, ladies and gentlemen, the Canady bill--with 
all of the emotional rhetoric, with all of the graphic pictures, with 
all of the exaggerated testimony--is the first frontal attack on Roe 
versus Wade by the new majority. Plain and simple. The new majority 
wants to do away with Roe; the radical right wants to do away with Roe; 
and the Canady bill is the first step.
  So let us be honest about what this debate is really about.
  Next, I want to talk about who will be harmed by the Canady bill. 
This legislation seeks to prohibit a wide array of abortion techniques 
which are used in the late stages of a pregnancy when and if the life 
of the mother is in danger or a fetus is so malformed that it has no 
chance to survive.
  The procedures which the Canady bill seeks to prohibit are used very, 
very rarely. In fact, less than 600 times per year, for all late term 
abortions and, less than 100 a year for this procedure. These 
particular abortion techniques 

[[Page H11462]]

are used in extreme and tragic cases. Like a fetus with no brain; or a 
fetus with missing organs; or a fetus with the spine growing outside of 
the body. The procedures which will be banned by the Canady bill are 
used when the fetus has zero chance of survival.
  If women are forced to carry these malformed fetuses to term, they 
are in danger of chronic hemorrhaging, permanent infertility, or death.
  That is what H.R. 1833 is all about.
  To my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, I know that this is a 
difficult issue to talk about on the floor of the House of 
Representatives. I do not think that this subject belongs here. I do 
not think that Congress should be making decisions on surgical 
procedures.
  Women and their doctors need to make these decisions, not Members of 
Congress. So let us put the decision back where it belongs. Give women 
the right to make their own decisions. Let us preserve Roe versus Wade. 
I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on H.R. 1833 when it is considered 
later this week.

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