[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 49 (Wednesday, April 17, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H3557]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RIGHTFUL ROLE OF GOVERNMENT TO DEFEND THE DEFENSELESS
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). Under a previous order of the
House, the gentleman from New York [Mr. Forbes] is recognized for 5
minutes.
Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the sentiments of my colleague
from New York.
Mr. Speaker, I take the well today to talk a little bit about an
issue I think that is of great and paramount importance to both sides
of the aisle that serve in this august body. For the last 15 months, we
have watched as the House of Representatives struggles with public
policy questions. What is the rightful role of government? To what
extent do we fund these programs? What programs work? What programs do
not work?
For 15 months, it has been a very healthy, although at times
contentious, debate. It gets at the very heart of what democracy is all
about. Taking these issues to the American people, to the floor of the
House of Representatives and having a good give and take. We are trying
to understand, as we are on the threshold of a new millennium, where to
take America. What are our priorities? And I would say, Mr. Speaker,
that as we think about those priorities, we think about a government
that most of us would like to be benevolent, caring, there for those
who cannot help themselves.
We need to think of the question that gets at the heart of the
highest, most precious part of the human experience, and I speak with
reference to those moments when a young woman and her husband, a young
man and wife, learn the terrific news that there is going to be a birth
of a child. Their excitement, their love, their exhilaration is
unmatched by almost anything else that one could experience in life,
and I do not think there is an American, whether they be described as
pro-choice or pro-life, that cannot appreciate that very important and
most precious moment in the human experience.
It leaves me, Mr. Speaker, mystified, wondering if the rightful role
of government is not to step forward, to indeed protect the most
defenseless among us, that nurturing, growing life within the womb,
that most precious experience in a woman's existence. What is the
rightful role of government, I ask, if not to protect that defenseless
life? Yet we had an issue, and I speak principally to the issue of the
late-term partial birth abortion ban, and the question of government's
rightful role to step in at a period when this baby, growing within the
womb, is 4\1/2\ months along, or on the eve of a birth. Yet this
procedure continues and will continue because a bill that was sent to
the White House was rejected. Despite the safeguard stipulating that
there must be an absolute threat to the life of the mother, the
President chose to veto this bill. The same president who as Governor
could have been at one point described as pro-life now sides with the
radical left on this issue.
Mr. Speaker, I ask again, what is the rightful role of government if
not to step forward at these most important moments to defend the
defenseless, to step forward for our children? Is there anything so
precious in life, in society as the birth of a child, as the potential
growth of a new human life? And yet, this partial birth abortion
procedure, which some say is a rare occasion, well, I would say one
occasion is too many. There are, as I have been told, some very
infrequent times when the life of the mother is so threatened that this
procedure is performed. But I am also told that the American Medical
Association, its college of legislative people and the 12 doctors
therein, have said that this is an unnecessary procedure.
Mr. Speaker, as I yield the podium, I would just ask that if the
rightful role of government is not to defend the defenseless, to defend
precious life, then what is the role of government?
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