[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 103 (Tuesday, July 28, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1455]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E1455]]



 PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTION BAN ACT OF 1997--MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF 
                THE UNITED STATES (H. DOC. NO. 105-158)

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. CHET EDWARDS

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 23, 1998

  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, I am strongly opposed to late term 
abortions. In fact, in 1987, as a Texas State Senator, I helped pass a 
bill that prohibited the late term abortions. That bill is still law 
today in Texas.
  But, there are major differences between the Texas law and this bill 
today.
  First, in Texas, we outlawed all procedures--this bill still allows 
late term abortions.
  Second, in Texas, our law was written to meet constitutional 
requirements. This bill is unconstitutional--as federal judges have 
ruled across America, this bill clearly oversteps the constitutional 
guidelines established in Roe versus Wade. The Texas law wasn't written 
to maximize political sound bites, it was written to save babies' 
lives.
  Third, in Texas, we trusted women to make responsible choices--this 
bill does not. Specifically, the Texas law said that in rare, tragic 
cases where the serious health of a woman is at risk, the difficult 
decision of terminating a pregnancy should be made by a woman and her 
doctor, not by politicians in Washington, DC.
  In my opinion, if there is one frivolous late term abortion anywhere 
in America, that is one too many. It should be stopped. But, when a 
mother's life or health is at risk in rare cases, in those cases, 
government has no right to tell a woman what to do.
  This bill would force a woman to put her health or fertility at risk, 
even when her baby has zero chance of survival after childbirth. To me, 
it is cruel and mean-spirited to tell a woman that she must risk her 
ability to have children in the future when she is about to face the 
tragedy of delivering a child that is doomed to die.
  To the Republican men who refused to make changes in this bill to 
address this tragic problem I would say--what right do you have to tell 
a woman that she should risk her fertility--risk her ability to enjoy 
the joy of having a child--because you were more interested in 
political sound bites than in the rights of a woman?
  Let us be clear. This bill could jeopardize a woman's future 
fertility even when her present baby is a troubled pregnancy and has no 
chance of survival. This bill would force a woman's doctor to end her 
pregnancy with riskier procedures, and that is why the American College 
of Obstetricians and Gynecologists oppose this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to say that I know this veto will be overridden 
for two reasons today.
  First, many members believe that life begins at conception.
  Second, many other members privately recognize that there are serious 
flaws in this bill, but they know that the Republican authors have 
written this for maximum impact in 30-second TV ads.
  To those who genuinely believe for religious reasons that life begins 
at conception, and not only want to pass this bill, but have said that 
they want to restrict a woman's access to contraceptives--to you I say 
that I respect your religious views, but I question your right to force 
your religious views on others. Last week, you accused women and 
mothers who use contraceptives of being abortionists. Today, you are 
willing to risk women's fertility in rare, tragic cases of troubled 
pregnancies.
  Finally, the sad thing about this debate today is that if some of its 
sponsors had been more interested in stopping late term abortions than 
in having a sound bite campaign issue, we could have passed a similar 
bill three years ago that would be saving lives today