[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 101 (Friday, July 24, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1424]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


   POLITICAL VOTE AND A POLITICAL DEBATE ON A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO CHOOSE

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                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 23, 1998

  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to oppose the vote to override 
the President's veto of legislation passed by this Congress to 
criminalize a specific abortion procedure used in catastrophic 
pregnancies. Make no mistake about it, this is a political vote and a 
political debate--a debate fraught with inflammatory rhetoric and 
distorted facts.
  The fact is, there is no medical procedure called a ``partial birth 
abortion''--that's a name made up by opponents of choice to distort the 
issue. What we're talking about is a procedure used in late term 
catastrophic pregnancies, when the fetus has a horrible abnormality, or 
the pregnancy seriously threatens the mother's life or health.
  The vote to override the President's veto of this bill is a blatant 
attempt to shelter the hypocrisy of the abortion debate--that the 
strongest opponents of the right to choose also oppose programs 
promoting comprehensive sex education and birth control, which actually 
reduce unintended pregnancies. Instead, anti-choice Members of Congress 
would make access to family planning options more difficult, more 
dangerous, more expensive, and more humiliating. A vote to override the 
President's veto would threaten doctors with fines and imprisonment, 
and prevents not one teen pregnancy.
  Doctors, not politicians, must decide what medical treatments are the 
best for these patients. Doctors use this procedure when they believe 
it is the safest way to end a pregnancy and leave the woman with the 
best chance to have a healthy baby in the future. Congress should not 
second-guess their medical judgment.
  I ask my colleagues in the majority, who often express their disdain 
at the federal government's involvement in their personal lives, to 
oppose the veto override. It doesn't get more personal than this.

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