[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 123 (Tuesday, September 21, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1906]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   WOMEN AND CHILDREN'S RESOURCES ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOSEPH R. PITTS

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 21, 1999

  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased today to introduce a bill that 
is about solutions. About solutions for women in need. It's called the 
Women and Children's Resources Act and it is truly seeking to improve 
women's health and offer a woman compassionate choices when she finds 
herself facing an unplanned pregnancy.
  This is legislation that can frankly bring pro-life and pro-choice 
together to offer real solutions to women--on common ground. If today's 
women need choices we must offer them real choices. We must offer them 
compassion. To truly respect women and to respect the value and 
uniqueness of all human life--both mother and child--we need to meet 
their needs in a holistic way. This is the essence of caring for women.
  We all rejoice when we hear that the abortion rate is dropping in 
America. We rejoice because we know that it is due in part to the 
compassionate services and alternatives that are being offered to 
today's women.
  Indeed, as Frederica Mathewes-Green has said so well, many women 
would choose not to have an abortion if only they knew that other 
options were available to them.
  Alternatives like adoption services, maternity home stays, crisis 
pregnancy centers, caring extended church families and religious 
communities, even para-church organizations.
  I'm pleased to have representatives from some of these organizations 
here today. It is each of you who provide the time-intensive, long-
term, compassionate assistance to women--women who may be scared, poor, 
lonely, even confused. Thank you.
  The Women and Children's Resources Act takes a successful model--the 
Pennsylvania model--and expands it for all 50 states. In Pennsylvania, 
because of a fee-for-service funding stream that goes directly to 
crisis pregnancy centers, maternity homes, and adoption services, small 
organizations that meet these needs are helping hundreds more women 
than they would have been able to otherwise.
  At the federal level, the 85 million dollar grant that would be set 
up through the Women and Children's Resources Act will provide a 
helping hand to such organizations all over the United States--
organizations meeting essential needs of women, through: Testing for 
pregnancy; follow-up services; prenatal and postpartum health care; 
health and nutritional needs of pregnant and postpartum women; and 
essential information on childbirth, parenting, and pregnancy during 
adolescence.
  For thousands of women, unfortunately, unplanned pregnancy is a 
reality. We are here today because we care about women in these 
situations.
  Even as funding for Title X continues to grow, small organizations 
like crisis pregnancy centers, maternity homes, and adoption agencies 
rely almost solely on contributions from concerned citizens just to 
keep their shoe-string budgets afloat.
  Mother Teresa showed us that the most important thing we can do is to 
meet the needs of those in our midst, those on our street corner, those 
in our cities and towns, those who come to us for help.
  The Women and Children's Resources Act empowers those who are making 
a tangible difference in the lives of women facing an unplanned 
pregnancy. This is a critical part of offering choices. And this is the 
very essence of compassion. And this is something on which pro-choice 
and pro-life people can agree: that women facing crisis pregnancies 
need compassionate assistance.

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