[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 20 (Tuesday, February 24, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H518-H519]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  UNBORN VICTIMS AND MORAL LEADERSHIP

  (Mr. DeLAY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, this week the House will hear a lot, on the 
floor and off the floor, about the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, also 
known as Laci and Conner's Law, which acknowledges the victimhood of 
unborn children injured during attacks against their pregnant mothers.
  Though the bill says nothing about Roe v. Wade, Casey v. Planned 
Parenthood, or any abortion law at any level of government in this 
Nation, we will hear false arguments to the contrary. We will hear the 
usual arguments, from the usual suspects, that any legislation that in 
any way recognizes the humanity of unborn children is an assault on the 
Constitution.
  Those of us who support this legislation, who, I should add, 
represent a point of view shared by more than 80 percent of the 
American people, will be scolded and have fingers wagged at us by 
people telling us in ominous tones that they ``know what we are 
doing.''
  Well, I should hope so. I hope the whole world knows what we are 
doing,

[[Page H519]]

sees the stands that we are taking on behalf of pregnant mothers and 
their families, providing justice and codifying common sense.
  There is nothing in Laci and Conner's Law we should hide from. 
Indeed, so intuitive is the notion that an attack against a pregnant 
mother involves two victims, so essential to both natural law and basic 
human experience, that I would venture to guess that even most children 
in this country just assume that legislation like the Unborn Victims of 
Violence Act is already on the books.
  This is a no-brainer, Mr. Speaker. Of course Laci and Conner's Law 
should be passed. Of course this House and this Nation can stand up for 
pregnant women and their families and acknowledge the injuries their 
children suffer at the hand of violent predators and set penalties 
accordingly.
  Defending the family is part of our core agenda in this Congress, and 
passing Laci and Conner's Law is one of the ways we can fulfill it. 
After all, what kind of moral leaders would we be if, given the choice, 
we rejected the natural instinct of all people that they all have to 
recoil at news of violence against pregnant mothers?
  Fortunately, Mr. Speaker, come Thursday's vote, we will not have to 
find out.

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