[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 170 (Tuesday, October 31, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H11464]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         VOTE AGAINST H.R. 1833

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. Maloney] is recognized for 2 minutes.
  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, in the interests of good health care and 
good public policy, I urge my colleagues to vote against H.R. 1833. In 
the first 6 months of the 104th Congress, 12 antichoice bills passed. 
This one, H.R. 1833, is by far the worst.
  The bottom line is, H.R. 1833 represents an unprecedented politically 
motivated intrusion into the practice of sound and acceptable clinical 
medicine.
  Here are the facts choice opponents purposely ignore. Abortion in 
late term pregnancy is rare, very rare. Only four one-hundredths of a 1 
percent of abortions are performed at 26 weeks. H.R. 1833 provides no 
exceptions for cases in which the procedure would be necessary to 
preserve a woman's health or life. The bill presents a direct 
constitutional challenge to Roe versus Wade.
  If facts do not convince you, maybe this family's story will. Vickie 
Smith, a mother of two children, ended a wanted pregnancy because the 
fetus had abnormalities incompatible with life. A large part of its 
brain was formed outside the skull. Because Vickie went through the 
safest procedure available, she was able to have more children. She is 
now expecting her third child. With the safest procedure known, Vickie 
could have become infertile or could have died.
  In the interests of good health and public policy, please vote 
against H.R. 1833. Do not allow an already cruel situation to be 
politicized. It is bad public policy and bad medicine.

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