[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 124 (Thursday, September 17, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10509-S10510]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTION BAN ACT OF 1997--VETO

  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of the 
overriding of the President's veto on partial-birth abortion. Before I 
give my comments and observations, I want to look across the Senate to 
the freshman Senator from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum. I want to say to 
him that when he spoke on this issue today, and when he spoke on this 
issue the last time we debated it here, I was never more proud of a 
Senator than I was to observe him and watch him. I can assure him that 
even though he may not have won the last time in terms of what we are 
doing in a veto override, and he may not win this time, there are 
millions of Americans who have watched him. Whether they were concerned 
about this issue or not, if they watched for a while, they are 
concerned right now. You can't ask for anything more.
  I read the Senator's wife's book with reference to the problems they 
had with reference to an abortion they had no control over, an early 
delivery of a child that died. I am so proud, I can hardly express it 
tonight.
  I want to once more congratulate him for what he has done here on the 
floor of the Senate. It is not easy, but he did it with great, great 
style.
  Mr. President, this debate is about infanticide. Frankly, I didn't 
dream that concept up. There is a very distinguished Senator from the 
State of New York--I know Senator D'Amato from New York is here and I 
think he would concur when I say a distinguished Senator named Senator 
Moynihan--who looked at this problem and it didn't take him very long. 
We talk all around it. He talked right to it when he said this is 
infanticide.
  So this debate is about humanity and necessity. The procedure of 
partial-birth abortion, to put it bluntly, is inhumane.
  By now, many Americans are uncomfortably aware of the details of 
partial-birth abortion. They have heard the testimony of doctors who 
performed this procedure, nurses who witnessed this procedure, and they 
have most likely seen informational ads or read descriptions of this 
procedure. Maybe they have even watched us debate this issue on prior 
occasions. So I am not going to go through the details of the 
procedure. I will only say that, at a minimum, it is cruel and 
inhumane. I find it ironic that our Constitution, via the eighth 
amendment, protects criminals from cruel and unusual punishment; 
however, that same amendment does not protect innocent babies when it 
comes to cruel and inhumane procedures that are known as partial-birth 
abortions.
  Proponents of partial-birth abortion claim that the procedure is 
rare, occurring only about 500 times a year. However, that is simply 
not true. The number of partial-birth abortions is closer to between 
3,000 and 5,000 a year. In New Jersey alone, at least 1,500 procedures 
are done each year. Besides being inhumane and quite prevalent, 
partial-birth abortion is also unnecessary.
  Opponents of this legislation argue that partial-birth abortion is 
necessary to protect the health of the mother. However, most experts 
say this is also simply not true. According to more than 500 doctors 
nationwide, who make up what is called the Physicians' Ad Hoc Coalition 
for Truth, it is never--I repeat never--medically necessary to perform 
a partial-birth abortion to protect the health or fertility of the 
mother. A former Surgeon General, who we admire and respect when he 
sort of agrees with our views but we ignore him when he disagrees, 
Surgeon General Everett Koop, has also stated that partial-birth 
abortion is never medically necessary to protect the mother's health or 
fertility. So amidst all this evidence, how can the opponents of this 
bill tell the American people that partial-birth abortion is sometimes 
medically necessary?
  If this procedure is not medically necessary, why do we allow it? As 
I told you, Mr. President, this debate is not about Roe v. Wade or the 
choice of life. It is not about any of those things. But it is about a 
baby, a life that is destroyed in a cruel and inhumane way. It is about 
a life that is unnecessarily destroyed and need not happen. It is for 
these reasons that I will gladly vote to override the President's veto 
of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 1997.
  I suggest tonight to my good friend, the leader of this cause, that 
if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. If indeed that means 
that you have already tried three times, then try and try again. What 
is so patently right will soon prevail.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. D'AMATO addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. DeWine). The Senator from New York is 
recognized.
  Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, I associate myself with the remarks made 
by my distinguished friend and colleague, the great senior Senator from 
New Mexico, Senator Domenici. He touched on the eloquence and passion 
and the rightness and the moral certainty of

[[Page S10510]]

Senator Santorum's very cogent argument and presentation. This entire 
subject, I believe, is uncomfortable for all of us. But it is so 
necessary. Senator Domenici spoke about the great senior Senator from 
New York, and I say that because I have great admiration and respect 
for the senior Senator from New York, who is fearless and courageous in 
saying that this was infanticide. That is what this is--the killing of 
a youngster, which is absolutely unnecessary, when the AMA, the 
American Medical Association, has come out and said there is no reason 
for this procedure. What are we talking about when we move down this 
line and say that anyone can do anything, even where we have a life, a 
new and innocent life?
  And so, Mr. President, I, too, say to my colleague and friend from 
Pennsylvania, we thank you for having the moral certainty and courage 
of not giving up and fighting to preserve the opportunity for those 
lives that have really come into being, to be what they can be and what 
they should be. When we talk about preserving the sanctity of life, 
there is no greater fight, no greater cause.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. DOMENICI addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico is recognized.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I say to Senator Santorum, for all you 
have gone through and all the courage that it has taken for you to do 
what you have done, I hope that tonight, by staying here a few minutes 
with you--and there is nobody else on the floor but us--you understand 
that we are very appreciative of your leadership and we are with you. 
We are going to vote with you, and we are going to vote with you again, 
until it finally prevails. I thank the Senator.
  Mr. SANTORUM addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania is recognized.
  Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from New Mexico and 
the Senator from New York for their overly gracious comments. They have 
been in this Chamber a lot longer than I and have been fighting many 
noble causes, including the cause of life. They have served as 
tremendous models for me in this effort. I thank them for their 
terrific heartfelt support on this issue and other issues pertaining to 
life.

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