[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 12 (Wednesday, January 21, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H426-H432]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                                ABORTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2009, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, President Barack Obama's 
eloquent inauguration speech yesterday was uplifting and historic. The 
44th President of the United States of America said in part: ``The time 
has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; 
to carry that precious gift, that noble idea; passed on from generation 
to generation: The God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, 
and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.''
  Powerful rhetoric indeed, Mr. Speaker. Yet for many of us, even as 
the President spoke those wonderful words, something seemed amiss, 
disconnected, and inconsistent with what we understand his true agenda 
to be.
  Clearly not all are free in America. All are not equal or have a 
chance at happiness.
  Today, by direct government action and ongoing complicity, enabling 
or indifference, especially by Congress, those God-given promises 
President Obama spoke about are systematically denied to an entire 
class of American children: Unborn babies.
  By reason of their age, dependency, immaturity, inconvenience, or 
unwantedness, unborn children have been legally rendered persona non 
grata, and expendable.
  Let's be honest, Mr. Speaker. Abortion is violence against children. 
It dismembers and chemically poisons a child to death. It hurts women 
physically and psychologically and spiritually. There is nothing 
whatsoever compassionate, benevolent, ennobling, or benign about 
abortion. It is a violation of a child's fundamental human rights.
  Which begs the question, will our new President extend the ``God-
given promise,'' as he put it, of hope and freedom, justice, respect, 
compassion, and protection and a simple chance at happiness to 
America's unborn children? Will the President's words be matched by 
deeds that rescue and save the most vulnerable among us?
  Sadly, waiting in the wings, barely visible in the shadows, ready to 
pounce, lurks the most extreme pro-abortion agenda in American history. 
If even a portion of the Obama agenda advances by executive order, 
reinterpretation of existing law, or enactment of new laws like the so-
called Freedom of Choice Act, millions of children will die and their 
mothers will be wounded. And President Obama will be remembered forever 
not just as a smart, savvy, gifted and eloquent man, but as the 
Abortion President.
  Recently, more than 50 pro-abortion organizations conveyed a 55-page 
blueprint to promote abortion to the Obama transition team. The 
document, marching orders, will result in the death for millions of 
children in America and in foreign countries and will impose 
incalculable harm and pain on expectant mothers everywhere. The Obama 
administration and the pro-abortion nongovernmental organizations, or 
NGOs, that prepared it are, as of today, in lockstep. Indeed, many 
personnel from pro-abortion NGOs have already been embedded in 
strategic places in the administration where they can foment anti-child 
policies often undetected and with a degree of stealth.
  What follows in the days and months ahead will be a highly 
choreographed, highly deceptive message amplified by a pliant 
supportive news media to market the agenda. The propagandists will try 
to sell the agenda by repeating ad nauseam that their goal is to reduce 
abortions.
  Curiously, the very people who claim to want to reduce the number of 
abortions will seek to degrade, undermine,

[[Page H427]]

and if they get away with it, repeal outright hundreds of Federal and 
State pro-life laws that have demonstrated over time to have saved 
millions of innocent human lives.
  Both the pro-abortion Alan Guttmacher Institute and pro-life 
advocates agree on one thing, and that is that the Federal prohibition 
on taxpayer funding for abortion significantly reduces the number of 
abortions. According to the Guttmacher Institute, between 18 and 35 
percent of Medicaid patients who would have had an abortion carry their 
babies to term when Medicaid funding is not available. Similarly, a 
recent study showed that when laws requiring one parent consent before 
a minor girl obtains an abortion were enacted, the minor abortion rate 
was reduced by 19 percent and 31 percent when parental consent was 
required from both parents. These time-tested policies that have 
already reduced abortion are now in jeopardy.
  The Freedom of Choice Act, if enacted, would repeal taxpayer bans on 
funding for abortions, including the Hyde Amendment, which has been in 
effect for over 30 years. It would repeal parental notification for 
minors; women's right to know statutes; conscience protections for 
health care workers who want no part of this grizzly business; ethical 
safeguards for embryo-destroying stem cell research; the repeal of even 
the recently enacted ban on partial birth abortion, one of the most 
hideous methods of abortion imaginable, where the child is half born in 
the birth canal only to have his or her brain sucked out to effectuate 
the death of the child. A hideous method of child abuse. That would be 
repealed if the Freedom of Choice Act were to be enacted into law. 
Nearly every pro-life, life-affirming policy over the past three 
decades would be gone, nullified, vitiated if this extreme piece of 
legislation, sadly, backed by our President, were to be enacted.
  Are these changes that we can believe in, Mr. Speaker? Hardly.
  The administration, sadly, will also seek to enrich and empower pro-
abortion organizations, most likely maybe today, tomorrow, the next day 
will repeal the Mexico City policy, which separates abortion from 
family planning and says that the U.S. taxpayer and our overseas 
population control programs will have nothing whatsoever to do with the 
promotion of abortion or the performance of abortion as a matter of 
family planning.
  Much well-deserved respect, finally, Mr. Speaker, has been directed 
to the man and the legacy of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, this week 
especially. And for that reason we need to hear the courageous voice of 
another Dr. King: His niece, Dr. Alveda King, who has had two abortions 
and now speaks out for both victims of abortion: The unborn child and 
his or her mother.

                              {time}  1730

  As Dr. King has said, defending human life is part of the civil 
rights struggle; and as we remember the dream of Dr. Martin Luther 
King, Jr., let us also remember the words of Dr. Alveda King when she 
asks, how can the dream survive and we murder the children?
  I would like to yield to Virginia Foxx.
  Ms. FOXX. I want to thank all of my colleagues who are here tonight, 
to remember the millions of unborn children whose blood has been shed 
in the abortion mills of America. I especially thank my colleague from 
New Jersey who has organized this Special Order.
  Defending the defenseless is one of the most important duties that we 
have as Members of Congress. The pro-life cause has roots deep in the 
historic battles against all forms of injustice, brutality and equality 
and is today growing strong as we mark the infamous 36th anniversary of 
what one Supreme Court justice called an exercise in ``raw judicial 
power.''
  Despite recent setbacks, such as the election of a stridently pro-
abortion President, those who spend their days fighting for abortion on 
demand don't know what we know, that they are on the losing side. We 
are on the side of justice. We are on the side of the innocent and the 
defenseless, and we are on the side of equal dignity for every human 
life.
  So as we mourn the holocaust of abortion and the grievous toll it has 
taken upon our Nation, let us not forget whose side we are on. Though 
the battle to protect every life, from unborn child to disabled elderly 
will be long and hard, it is a battle worth fighting.
  As the late father Richard John Neuhaus, our dear brother and fellow 
soldier in this fight, said last year, ``We have been at this a long 
time, and we are just getting started . . . We shall not weary, we 
shall not rest, until every unborn child is protected in law and 
welcomed in life.''
  And so today the fight continues. President Obama has promised the 
pro-abortion lobby that he will sign and support the Orwellian 
``Freedom of Choice Act'' which, if it were to become law, would roll 
back almost every restriction on abortions in America and would even 
allow for taxpayer-funded abortion on demand.
  Such an act will take this country in the wrong direction and send 
absolutely the wrong message to the world. That message is that we do 
not value life. That is not the message we need to be sending from this 
country. I believe we do value life, and that's the message we should 
be sending.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I yield to the distinguished gentleman that 
serves as our conference chairman, Mr. Pence, who has been a leader on 
behalf of all human rights around the world.
  (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. PENCE. I thank the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey for 
his moral leadership, not only for organizing this discussion tonight 
among our cherished colleagues but for a lifetime of standing in the 
gap on behalf of the defenseless. I commend Chris Smith and to no less 
extent his wife for their work on behalf of the unborn.
  Mr. Speaker, I come to this Chamber cognizant of the fact that tens 
of thousands of Americans will brave the elements tomorrow, as they do 
every year, on what will be the 36th anniversary of the worst Supreme 
Court decision since Dred Scott. I bristle at the term ``anniversary'' 
because, in my life, anniversaries are special things. We remember them 
at fondly remembered occasions, and this is certainly not the case.
  This is the annual marking of that decision which 36 years ago 
tomorrow nullified all of the hard-fought bills and legislation over 
100 years at the State level that put restrictions on the abortion of 
unborn children in Roe v. Wade.
  It is accurate to say that life is losing in Washington, D.C., both 
in our judiciary among a pro-abortion majority in the House and the 
Senate and now with the election of a pro-abortion President of the 
United States.
  But let me say with confidence that while life may be losing in 
Washington, D.C., I believe life is winning in America. Despite the 
best efforts of the pro-abortion movement, the defend abortion on 
demand, more Americans embrace the sanctity of life today than ever 
before, especially younger Americans.
  While more than 50 million innocent human lives have been ended by 
abortion since Roe v. Wade, I am happy to report, Mr. Speaker, that 
abortions have declined by nearly 20 percent in the last 15 years. That 
actually figures out to be more than 881 lives saved per day, each a 
poignant reminder of why we can never relent in the defense of life.
  Now there are many theories about why attitudes are changing about 
the sanctity of life in America. Some people believe that moments like 
this on the floor of legislative chambers have their good effect, and I 
would like to believe that, but I am not really sure that I do.
  Now, some think that it's about political activism and people 
organizing and communicating. And while that plays a role, I am not 
sure that it's changing attitudes in America.
  And even some much more plausibly believe that legions of 
organizations across the country that fall under the heading of crisis 
pregnancy centers, organizations have come alongside young women with 
unwanted pregnancies and provide them with resources and a message of 
hope and encourage them to choose life are changing hearts, and I am 
much more prepared to believe that that's true.
  But I actually believe in my heart of hearts that what's changing in 
America today is happening in the quiet

[[Page H428]]

counsels between mothers and daughters, between grandmothers and 
granddaughters, women who themselves were victimized by abortion. I 
believe we are telling the most cherished younger women in their lives 
the truth, and attitudes are changing across kitchen tables and over 
coffee in living rooms.
  And that's why I believe that life is winning in America. But that 
doesn't obviate the need for us to take action here on Capitol Hill, 
and action we will take, not only as we prepare to respond to what may 
be an eminent executive order upending one of the most popular 
restrictions on foreign aid in recent American history. There are 
rumors, Mr. Speaker, that the so-named Mexico City Policy will be 
overturned by our new President, and we prepare to make a case on 
behalf of American taxpayers and on behalf of pro-life Americans of the 
wrong decisions if it comes to pass. We also prepare ourselves in the 
legislative process to both defend and advance the cause of life.

  Just moments ago, with 63 original cosponsors, I reintroduced 
legislation that I brought to this floor in the last Congress, the 
Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act.
  It comes as a surprise to many to learn that the largest recipient of 
nonabortion Federal taxpayer dollars through title 10 is the largest 
abortion provider in America. Most Americans don't realize that.
  Let me say that again, that the largest recipient of Federal funding 
through title 10 is the largest abortion provider in America.
  Now, Planned Parenthood, that recipient, will be very quick to say 
that, well, title 10 can't go to providing or promoting abortion 
services, and that is certainly true, but it doesn't change the fact 
that the largest abortion provider in America is also the recipient of 
literally tens of millions of dollars in Federal taxpayer money that go 
into their nonabortion related activities.
  Our legislation, reintroduced today with broad support and in the 
last Congress, cosponsored by nearly 200 of our colleagues, would 
restrict any Federal family planning funds from going to organizations 
like Planned Parenthood, who perform abortions on demand or for any 
reason, and I urge my colleagues to support this measure.
  With this I close. I believe that life is winning in America because 
there is a moral reawakening on this issue. It's happening in the quiet 
counsels of the home and the workplace and in faith communities. But 
that doesn't change the fact that we must take a stand on this floor, 
on the National Mall tomorrow and in all of our communities on behalf 
of the unborn.
  It would be William Wilberforce who said famously of his long multi-
decade struggle against the scourge of slavery, he said, ``Never, never 
will we desist till we . . . extinguish every trace of this bloody 
traffic, of which our posterity, looking back to the history of these 
enlightened times will scarce believe that it has been suffered to 
exist so long a disgrace and dishonor to this country.''
  Strong words, but I believe they are words that resonate with the 
conscience of a Nation. America is great because America is good, and 
at the very center of the American experiment is the belief in the 
value and the sanctity of every human life. Until we restore that 
principle to the very center of the rule of law in this very Nation, we 
risk the ongoing vitality of the American experiment. I believe it with 
all my heart.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I want to thank our very distinguished 
conference chair for his eloquent defense of innocent human life, for 
his steadfastness on this issue, and point out when my good friend and 
colleague mentioned Planned Parenthood, I think most Americans would be 
shocked and dismayed and even discouraged to learn that Planned 
Parenthood alone performs approximately 300,000 abortions in their own 
clinics every year, and that number is going up.
  They seek even more money from the Federal Government, in part to 
expand their capability, their capacity. More clinics equals more dead 
babies and more wounded mothers.
  I yield to my good friend and colleague from New Jersey (Mr. 
Garrett), Scott Garrett.
  Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey. And I thank the gentleman from New Jersey 
for your leadership on this issue today and in the past so much and in 
the future as well.
  Mr. Speaker, as you know, I also hail from the great State of New 
Jersey; and tonight I would like to begin tonight by talking about a 
women who lived there, who had lived there in Tenafly, a town in my 
congressional district. You may have heard her name before. In fact, 
she is commemorated in a sculpture located right here in the rotunda of 
this building.
  I am talking about Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Ms. Stanton was a leading 
social activist of her time and a champion of the women's suffrage 
movement. As a proponent of women's rights, some might assume she 
supported a women's ability to have an abortion. No.
  Ms. Stanton actually took the opposite view. In a letter in 1873 
written to Julia Ward Howe, who was a prominent abolitionist, she wrote 
``When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading 
to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed 
of as we see fit.''
  She called abortion then what it was then and today as well, 
infanticide. Today, over 100 years later, women, of course, have won 
that battle of the women's suffrage movement and the right to vote, but 
we still allow some unborn infants to be classified as simply, with 
what she called it, unwanted nuisances and to be killed. You know, 
permitting this hypocrisy is really a promotion, you might say, of age-
based discrimination, and I believe Ms. Stanton would be appalled to 
know that it continues today.
  After all, murder is a direct violation of the very same rights that 
she was fighting for back then and as proposed by our Founding Fathers 
in original documents. You know, as the chairman of the Constitution 
Caucus, I have pledged to fight for the liberties recognized by our 
Founding Fathers. But I know, realistically, that we will have tough 
battles ahead in this term and years ahead on many different fronts.
  The first skirmish will likely be waged in the executive branch. One 
of the executive orders that President Bush stated in his Mexico City 
Policy, and what it does is to ban U.S. funds from going to 
nongovernmental agencies that provide abortion services overseas. Now, 
just last week, I joined Representative Lamborn and other Members of 
Congress in sending a letter at that time to President-elect Obama 
urging him to uphold that policy when he comes into office.
  Now, the second combat zone is right here in this U.S. Congress. Now, 
due to the successful efforts of past legislators, particularly former 
Congressman Henry Hyde, Federal funds could not be used to pay for 
abortions. However, Members who support abortions will likely, very 
likely, seek to erode these key restrictions.

                              {time}  1745

  Even worse than that, some Members would like to pass something 
called the Freedom of Choice Act. So today, I have signed a letter to 
now-President Obama, urging him to withdraw his pledge to support any 
such legislation.
  As bad as it is, fortunately, not all congressional clashes are on 
the offensive. So I applaud efforts of Members who have introduced 
legislation to protect the health of young mothers and restrict the 
number of abortions performed here in the United States.
  Just today, I signed on, and I am proud to do so, of the original 
cosponsor of Mr. Jordan's bill, which is the Ultrasound Informed 
Consent Act; Ms. Ros-Lehtinen's Child Interstate Abortion Notification 
Act; and Mr. Pence's, who was just speaking, Title X Abortion Provider 
Prohibition Act.
  Thankfully, the battle for the unborn is not waged merely here in the 
Capitol, in the Congress, in the Executive, the walls of the White 
House, or the halls here of the Congress, or even at the desks across 
the street at the Supreme Court Justices. The main struggle is fought 
in the towns and suburbs and cities across this United States.
  Many Americans strive to promote life by supporting young mothers who 
cannot afford to raise their child. They do this by adopting children 
who do not have a home or a parent. They counsel men and women who 
chose to abort and now experience the very deep depression and regret.

[[Page H429]]

  Just closing, just yesterday, I thought for a split second that our 
new President would seek to protect this innocent life as well. As I 
listened to his inaugural address, I heard him say, and I quote, ``All 
are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full 
measure of happiness.'' It seems that President Obama really believes 
that some people are just too young or too small to deserve such rights 
or privileges.
  Perhaps the new President should study the position of one of his 
predecessors, John Quincy Adams. Adams once wrote, ``Americans, ask the 
Declaration of Independence and it will tell you that its authors held 
for self-evident truth that the right to life is the first of the 
unalienable rights of man, and that to secure and not destroy that 
right, that is the reason the governments have been created.''
  So, as I stand here as an elected official in this government, I 
pledge, along with my colleagues from New Jersey, and across this 
country, to follow John Adams' footsteps and uphold our basic 
fundamental right. For without this fundamental right, all other 
freedoms in this Nation shall perish.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Thank you for that very compassionate and 
historical context that you bring to the floor today.
  The gentleman now recognizes Mr. Latta.
  Mr. LATTA. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I appreciate your 
efforts today on putting together this Special Order. Tomorrow, we are 
going to have tens of thousands of Americans here. They are coming here 
to support the rights of those who can't speak for themselves, the 
right of the unborn. I know in my hometown of Bowling Green, at Bowling 
Green State University, I know that at least 40 college students will 
be coming down tomorrow to be out there on that Mall.
  It's great that we had so many people here yesterday, but we also 
have young people coming out to talk about and support those who can't 
speak for themselves.
  As already has been mentioned by other of the Members today, talking 
about their views on the Freedom of Choice Act and what that will do in 
this country, it will be a travesty. The world judges us by what we do, 
and they will judge us harshly when they see what we do if this bill 
would ever become law.
  I have always been pro-life. When I was in the Ohio Legislature, I 
had the privilege of chairing the Senate Judiciary Committee and the 
House Criminal Justice Committee. Probably one of the toughest days 
that we ever had was when we had the partial birth abortion ban bill 
up. And when you sit on a committee that hears about all the gruesome 
crimes that are committed against the living, and I'd always have some 
of my constituents say to me, after they sat through some of our 
hearings after a long day, they would say, ``Latta, how do you sit 
through that stuff day after day after day?'' I'd say, ``It's my job.''
  But then when we had the partial birth abortion bill come before our 
committee, it was kind of also very unique to sit there in that 
committee room and look out across that audience and looking down 
across the committee to the folks sitting in their chairs. There was a 
lot of squirming going on that day because of the testimony of the 
doctor that testified that day to explain exactly what partial birth 
abortion was.
  It was one of those days that I had the initiative at times as the 
Chair that I can actually tell that we are not going to have anyone 
under the age of 18 in the hearing room because of what it might do to 
affect some of the kids that might be there.
  But when we heard the testimony that day, I can look down on both 
sides, left and right, and see from my members on that committee that 
they had heard enough. And they wanted to vote. It was a bill that we 
were able to bring to the floor quickly. We got that bill passed in 
Ohio to ban that horrible, horrible procedure, as discussed a little 
bit earlier.
  We do things in this country that, when you see what we try to do to 
save the living, it's time that we do what we can to save those who 
cannot speak for themselves.
  According to the National Right to Life, since 1973, there have been 
49,551,703 abortions performed in this country. In the State of Ohio, 
from the Department of Health, we have records showing that 32,936 
abortions were performed in Ohio alone in 1 year.
  And I will close on this, because we have to think about this. We 
have all these troubles and travesties that are coming before our 
country today. We have to ask ourselves, of those 49,551,703 lives, who 
among those could have found the cure for cancer? Who among those could 
be out there that found that energy cure that we have to have for this 
country? And, who in that number could have been the next President of 
the United States?

  So I am very, very glad to be here to support those who cannot speak 
for themselves and stand before you and say that it's time for this 
country to remember those who cannot speak and defend themselves.
  I yield back. Thank you.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Thank you very much, Mr. Latta.
  I'd like to yield to Michele Bachmann. The gentlelady is recognized.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith). I 
would like to just thank him for the years and years and years of 
commitment that he has had to the unborn here in America. The unborn 
have had a friend in Chris Smith. I thank you. That through thick and 
thin, it seems like we got a lot closer to our goal. Right now, it 
seems like we are a lot farther away when you look at the way the winds 
are prevailing.
  It has been 36 years since we have had the fateful decision of Roe v. 
Wade. In 36 years, we look at the fruit of that decision and what it 
has led to. Has it been freedom for women? Some might say so. Has it 
been enslavement for women? There are a lot of women who testify that 
yes, it has been enslavement for them, to years of depression, fighting 
perhaps alcoholism, drug addiction, because they had no idea what 
terminating the life of their little child would do to them in terms of 
ripping up their insides. They didn't really know what the decision 
would mean.
  My husband has had the privilege of counseling women and men who have 
been in that decision, abortion-minded women, who have later deeply 
regretted that decision that they made. I know for my husband and I, we 
are just so grateful God gave us five biological children over the 
years that we are grateful for, and we lost one.
  The baby that we lost taught us so much. When that baby died, it 
changed our lives. I know for me, personally, I couldn't speak for 3 
days after I lost that baby. Something was touched in the center of my 
soul, something so deep, so fundamental about human life that I can't 
even put into words right now. But the one thing I do know is that we 
are created in the image and likeness of a holy God.
  I just think that we should not be about the business of taking away 
something that is so precious and so life-giving and that can never be 
altered. It is a decision that, once it's made, can't be changed.
  When we lost our own baby, my husband and I decided we wanted to open 
up our home to children that were in difficult circumstances. And so we 
brought in 23 children over the years, not all at once, but over the 
years, and it changed us for the better, bringing in kids who are in 
really some of the very tough, tough situations. But, you know what? I 
have often heard that phrase from Planned Parenthood that says, ``Every 
Child a Wanted Child.''
  I just want the American public to know, every child is a wanted 
child. There's a foster parent out there that wants to take in a child 
in at-risk situations. There are adoptive parents out there that are 
crying tonight, literally crying themselves to sleep, because they want 
to take in a child.
  No, we are not talking just perfect children. We are talking special 
needs children. Children with disabilities of every kind. There are 
parents that want to adopt those children.
  And so when I look at the policy that is coming down the pike here in 
our Nation's Capitol or we are looking at reviving this policy of 
having the American taxpayer pay for international abortions, my heart 
breaks. It breaks because it's all so unnecessary. It's unnecessary 
because there is love. There are homes. There are men, there are women 
that want to offer the positive alternative.

[[Page H430]]

  For years, one of our colleagues from Pennsylvania, Joe Pitts, 
offered legislation called the Positive Alternatives Act. He was 
gracious to allow me to offer that bill last year. I offer it again now 
this year. It says to the men and women of America who are in a 
pregnancy that maybe they didn't count on that there's another way. 
Abortion isn't the only answer. There's a positive alternative.
  Can we allow tax money, your tax money, the American people, to go to 
pay for international abortions? Shouldn't we allow your tax money to 
go to offer to pay for positive alternatives for men and women, to 
offer them counseling, hope. Isn't this the time of hope and change? 
Let's offer true hope and change that will make an eternal difference 
in the lives of America's next generation.
  We have lost 50 million. We have lost 50 million Americans. Part of 
the generation that would be up and working right now to build this 
country into a better Nation, but we have lost them to eternity. We 
have lost them.
  I say we have a chance now for true hope and true change, to have a 
positive alternative so that tax money won't be spent just on death, 
but tax money now could be to offer life, a true positive choice. That 
is why I am so grateful to my colleague from New Jersey, the wonderful 
Representative Chris Smith, because for years and years and years he 
has known, he has fought. He gets it.
  The next generation needs us. They need our voice. And that is why I 
am so grateful that I can be a Member of Congress, to make that message 
now and to make that plea with my beloved colleague, just to beg our 
colleagues to join us. If we can offer death, certainly our country is 
good enough to offer life.
  With that, I yield back.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mrs. Bachmann, thank you so much for your 
not only eloquent, but your passion for innocent life, and especially 
for the women who are so seriously injured by each and every abortion. 
Very often it doesn't manifest itself immediately. There's a post-
traumatic stress element to this. And you certainly get it. And I think 
your passion and your voice is indispensable in this Congress. So I 
thank you for your leadership on behalf of all human life.
  I yield to my good friend, Mr. Lamborn.
  Mr. LAMBORN. I thank the gentleman for yielding and, most of all, for 
his leadership on this vital interest of protecting life. So, thank 
you, Representative Smith, for the years of dedication and for that of 
your wife as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the sanctity of all human life. 
Last Friday, in a bipartisan effort that I initiated, 78 Members of 
Congress sent a letter urging President Obama to continue the Mexico 
City Policy, which separates abortion and family planning in America's 
foreign aid programs.
  President Reagan first issued this Executive order in 1984. This 
policy, the Mexico City Policy, establishes a bright line between 
family planning activities and abortion, therefore ensuring that U.S. 
family planning funds are not co-opted by groups who promote abortion 
or provide abortion as a method of family planning.

                              {time}  1800

  Such activities sends a wrong message overseas that the United States 
promotes abortion. The Mexico City policy simply assures that taxpayer 
money is not used overseas to fund highly controversial abortion 
providers. The controversial debate of abortion has no business being 
included in foreign aid programs, and the Mexico City policy makes it 
clear that abortions are not to be funded overseas with U.S. tax 
dollars.
  In these difficult economic times, the American people would not want 
taxpayers to fund groups that are trying to export abortions all over 
the world. Also, in a moral sense, it is simply wrong to make all 
Americans who pay taxes complicit in even the smallest degree with the 
funding of abortions overseas when tens of millions of Americans 
believe abortion, elective abortion, is immoral and wrong.
  We strongly urge President Obama not to go down this road by forcing 
American taxpayers to pay for abortions overseas. We urge you, Mr. 
President, do not get rid of the Mexico City policy.
  I thank you.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I yield to Mr. Roe.
  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, as an obstetrician/gynecologist for over 30 years, and I 
have delivered close to 5,000 babies, I strongly, very strongly, 
support the sanctity of life.
  Using 3-D technology like the ultrasound has given us a window to the 
womb that shows that the unborn child is a living, breathing person. We 
can see the heartbeat as early as 28 days post-conception. I have 
watched babies breathe, move their small fingers. They are human beings 
at that point of conception. I have looked through this window with my 
own eyes many, many times. I have seen human development from its 
earliest stages of a fetus all the way through birth, which strengthens 
my conviction in the right to life.
  Life is a precious gift from God, and it begins at conception. It is 
our responsibility and privilege as legislators to protect those who do 
not have a voice. I will always fight for the right to life, because it 
is my conviction that we are all unique creations of God who knows us 
and loves us before we are ever conceived.
  Tomorrow, in my opinion, will mark one of the most tragic, misguided 
Supreme Court cases in our Nation's history, Roe versus Wade. Since its 
decision in 1973, more than 50 million babies have been denied the 
right to life. We must make our laws consistent with our science and 
fully restore legal protections to all those waiting to be born. If the 
government has any legitimate function whatsoever, it is to protect the 
most innocent among us.
  And, just to comment on the previous speakers, one of the most 
egregious procedures ever done is the third trimester abortion. I can 
tell you as a physician with over 30 years' experience there is no 
indication for that procedure for protection of the life of the mother. 
There are none. And my group that I practiced with for over 30 years 
has delivered over 25,000 children, and I can tell you right here and 
now, it breaks my heart to see that procedure, to know that it is done, 
and it is legal in this country. That is as wrong as it gets.
  I am glad and privileged to be here on the floor of the House with 
other legislators fighting for the rights of the unborn, and I thank 
you very much, Mr. Speaker.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I yield to Jim Jordan.
  Mr. JORDAN of Ohio. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank 
him for his many years of work on behalf of the pro-life cause and his 
work with the Pro-Life Caucus, in the bipartisan Pro-Life Caucus, here 
in Congress.
  I just want to say quickly three thank you's to the thousands of 
people who will be here tomorrow and to the millions of pro-life people 
across this country: Thank you for getting involved in this most 
important issue about the sanctity of human life.
  I spoke Sunday night back in our district to a banquet for a women's 
center in the town of Bell Fountain, Ohio, and I told them the same 
thing, thanking them for their effort in this cause for so many years, 
but also specifically I thanked them for two other things.
  First, I thanked them for taking the risk. There is always risk 
associated with stepping into public life and advocating for something 
so important. There is risk associated with getting off the sidelines 
and getting in the game to try to make a difference. We know that many 
times those in the press don't always give us a fair shake on this 
issue.
  I am always reminded of Cal Thomas, a guy who was pro-life and a 
syndicated columnist, Cal Thomas, and what he said when he was talking 
about how sometimes the press doesn't always give us a fair shake. And 
he had a great line. He said, ``I get up every morning; I read my Bible 
and the New York Times so I can see what each side is up to.'' And 
there is certainly some truth to that. We understand the risk that 
people take when they step forward and advocate for this, but the risk 
is worth taking, because this issue is so important.
  And the last thing I would say to, again, the thousands who are going 
to

[[Page H431]]

be here tomorrow and the millions of pro-life people across this 
country, for the work you have done for years to help protect human 
life and protect the unborn, stay positive. I see the difference you 
make when you get a chance to talk with the folks who have helped these 
women's centers across the country, these crisis pregnancy centers 
across the country. They are so positive, when they can help a young 
lady who is in this position, help her with her unborn child and help 
her through the whole pregnancy. Stay positive. Positive people get 
things done; negative people are negative. Positive people accomplish 
things of meaning and significance; negative people are negative. 
Positive people accomplish real things, and they help a lot of other 
people accomplish them as well. So stay positive.
  I will finish with this, Congressman. I am reminded of the story from 
Scripture we are all familiar with where the Israelites were camped 
against the Philistines, and every day the Philistine giant would walk 
out and issue the challenge: Who would fight Goliath? The Israelites' 
response was: He is so big, we can never defeat him. But David's 
response was: He is so big, I can't miss. And that is the attitude that 
pro-life people have had for over 30 years and that is the attitude 
that is ultimately going to allow us to win in this country and some 
day protect every single human being and make sure that unalienable 
right that our Founders talked about really applies to every single 
American.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I thank you very much. And I think you very 
correctly pointed out how important it is to stay positive, and Dr. Roe 
certainly did the same, especially bringing his expertise as a medical 
doctor to this very important fight for human rights and for protection 
of both the mother and the child. So I thank them both for their 
contributions.
  And I yield to Dr. Broun now such time as he might consume.
  Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Congressman Smith, I appreciate the opportunity 
to speak tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, there is no greater moral issue in America than killing 
4,000 babies every single day. We have killed 53 million unborn 
children since Roe versus Wade. God cannot and will not continue to 
bless America while we are killing these unborn children. He creates 
life. He is the only entity who has the right to take away innocent 
life.
  I am a medical doctor. I have treated a lot of patients over many 
years of serving the public in that capacity as a physician, and I want 
to tell you that women suffer through abortion. When we look at a woman 
who is pregnant, we have two patients actually. That is truly a child.
  We hear people, particularly the pro-abortion folks, talk about a 
woman should have the right to do with her body as she pleases. Well, I 
don't necessarily disagree with that statement. But what I do say to 
that person who is pro-abortion: She does not have the right to kill 
her unborn child. That unborn child should have constitutional 
protections, and there is no question about it, because it is a person. 
In fact, in the Roe versus Wade ruling, in the majority opinion it was 
stated: If any definition of the beginning of life was ever established 
legislatively, it would vacate Roe versus Wade.
  But let me tell you, America, this is a person. It is a baby. It is a 
baby who has all of the genetic material that it needs to grow and be 
successful as a human being. It is totally different from its mother's 
genetic makeup. It is a separate human being. At the time of 
fertilization is the only time that we can say that we can draw lines 
scientifically and say that there is not life and that there is a 
separate life. That occurs at fertilization.
  So we need to protect these children. It is absolutely critical as a 
Nation because, as I said, God cannot continue to bless America while 
we are killing 4,000 babies every day, and 1.2 million babies, it is 
estimated, on a yearly basis.
  We have a President, a new President who has said that he would sign 
the Freedom of Choice Act. The Freedom of Choice Act would actually 
allow abortions throughout the pregnancy, for 9 months, all the way 
until the baby literally was born completely and started to breathe on 
its own. But this is a baby. It is a life prior to that birth. In fact, 
the D&X procedure, partial birth abortion, if you will, was developed 
solely, solely, folks, and I can tell you this as a physician; it was 
developed by the abortionists solely to guarantee a dead baby.
  They were faced with a dilemma. During these late-term abortions they 
were delivering babies that were alive, breathing, struggling for life. 
These abortionists would throw these babies on a stainless steel 
counter or in the garbage can and allow them to die. It tears my heart 
out just to think about that, but that is literally what they were 
doing. They had to develop a procedure that would guarantee them a dead 
baby, and that is the reason the partial birth abortion procedure was 
developed.
  There is absolutely no--let me repeat--absolutely no medical reason 
to do that procedure except but to guarantee the abortionist a dead 
baby. That is what it is all about.
  For many years, we have had the Mexico City policy that was put in 
place years ago during the Reagan administration, and what it says is 
that taxpayers' funds would not be given to foreign entities that 
promote abortion for family planning. Here in this country we have 
Planned Parenthood. The last statistics that I have here before me 
tonight were put forward in 2006. Planned Parenthood admits to 
performing 289,650 abortions, killing that many unborn children. They 
have a profit that year of $112 million. Yet taxpayers' dollars went to 
that organization to the tune of $336 million that hardworking 
taxpayers sent to the Federal Government in your tax dollars. We have 
to stop funding this organization that is killing these children.
  They say, well, it is not used for abortion. It is used for family 
planning. It is used for other things. Well, this is just a shell game. 
It is transferring funds from one place to another so they can continue 
this culture of death that they promote. And it is about money for 
them. It is about power. For the abortionist, it is about making a lot 
of money, and that is what it is all about. I don't see how they can 
stand themselves to look in the mirror every morning after they have 
killed all these children, because I know within my heart that they 
have to know that that is a child, that that is a living human being. 
We intuitively as physicians know that.
  In fact, when I graduated from medical school, from the Medical 
College of Georgia, I did a pledge. It is called the Hippocratic oath. 
And in that oath there are two things that I pledged to do. One was to 
do no harm. Abortion does harm to that child, a separate human being. 
It is not the mother's body. It is that child's body, and we are doing 
harm.
  Secondly, more importantly, I pledged not to do an abortion. Sadly, 
medical schools don't do the Hippocratic oath anymore. Why don't they 
do it? For the two reasons I just stated: Because the pledge in the 
Hippocratic oath says, I will do no harm, and I will not commit an 
abortion.

                              {time}  1815

  Doctors in medical schools today don't take that pledge any longer. 
But this is the most important issue we face morally as a Nation. We 
have to stop the killing of these kids. There is absolutely no question 
about it. We have to stop using taxpayers' dollars to fund Planned 
Parenthood. We have to stop funding abortions in military hospitals 
overseas and in other Federal facilities. We have to stop funding 
organizations around the world that use taxpayers' dollars to promote 
abortion for family planning and for other things.
  As we look overseas at the Mexico City Policy that Barack Obama said 
he is going to overturn, those moms in those countries don't need an 
abortion. They need some help. They need a job. They need economic 
wellbeing. And abortion is not going to give it to them.
  Madam Speaker, I just heard a story recently. It's a story about a 
married lady who had one child. She and her husband were struggling 
economically. And she had an unintended pregnancy. So she goes to her 
doctor and says, Doctor, I need to have an abortion. I cannot continue 
through with this pregnancy. I cannot afford a second child. The doctor 
said, okay, I will be

[[Page H432]]

glad to do it. She was shocked at the cavalier attitude that the doctor 
had. He said, but I will tell you what. Why don't we kill your 2 year 
old? Why don't we kill your 2 year old? This is a child. You have 
another child in your uterus. Why don't we kill your 2 year old today, 
and then you will have the rest of your pregnancy to be able to save 
some money and get back on your feet and be able to put things in 
order. And you will still just have one child. Well, she was shocked, 
absolutely shocked. How could he suggest such a thing?
  But that is exactly the point he was trying to make, that this is a 
child. It's a human being. It's a life that is totally separate. Just 
like her 2 year old, that baby in her uterus is a child. It's a baby. 
It's a person, a whole, new human being who should have the right that 
we all have, the constitutional right of life, liberty and pursuit of 
happiness, as the Declaration of Independence says, that we are given 
those certain inalienable rights and that we are endowed by a Creator 
to have those rights.
  We need to give those rights to these unborn children. We have to 
stop the culture of death in America. We have to stop this killing of 
these children, 50 million, 53 million, whatever it is. God cannot and 
will not continue to bless America if we do. And His judgment is going 
to fall upon this country if we continue this heinous practice of 
killing these unborn children.
  Mr. Smith, Congressman Chris Smith, I greatly appreciate your doing 
these special orders tonight. It is such an important issue. It is the 
greatest issue we face morally as a Nation. We have to stop it. And I'm 
happy to work with you and other members of the pro-life caucus in 
fighting to preserve the life of these unborn children that desperately 
want to live and that our country needs to desperately protect. And I 
thank you so much for the time, sir.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Dr. Broun, thank you very much for your very 
eloquent and passionate statement and bringing to bear your medical 
expertise on this very important issue. It is extraordinary. And I hope 
people are listening, especially Members of Congress.
  Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you, Congressman. And the thing is that 
as a physician, I know that is a life. There is no question. 
Scientifically, it is a life. It is a separate life. It is not the 
mom's life. It is not just a little glob of tissue that is amorphous--
that is a medical term, by the way--that doesn't have form. By the time 
the mom knows she is pregnant, there is a heartbeat there. The baby is 
developing. It is a person. It is developing feelings. It is developing 
a central nervous system. That is why ultrasound has been so important 
in protecting the lives, because these moms who are in crisis 
pregnancies, when they go to a crisis pregnancy center with an 
ultrasound--a 3D ultrasound is even better--they look at that baby and 
say this is a child. And they realize that that is a child. And the 
American public needs to understand that it's a child. It's a baby. The 
word ``fetus'' is a Latin term. You hear the pro-abortion folks say 
that it is just a fetus. That term ``fetus'' means ``baby.'' That is 
the definition of the word. It is a baby. And it truly is.
  And I appreciate the long, hard fight that you have been doing for 
all these years to try to protect these children. And I'm glad to join 
you in that effort.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Thank you so much, Dr. Broun.
  Dana Rohrabacher.
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. And let me just 
note that I have worked with Chris Smith now for 20 years. He is a 
heroic individual, a man who has come forth and put so much time and so 
much energy into protecting human rights throughout the world. 
Throughout the world, this man is known as the guy who will step 
forward and take the time and the effort to try to protect people who 
are under attack. Whether they are Montagnards or whether they are off 
in Africa or whether they are in South America or wherever out in the 
world that you have people whose human rights are being abused and 
peoples' lives, innocent lives, are being lost, Chris always stands up 
for them. And I have tried my best to work with him. He has a lot more 
energy than I do. But it has just been an honor serving with him.
  And it is so consistent with that position for people who claim to 
believe in human rights to also take a very close look at the issue of 
abortion and understand that we are talking about a human being which 
has rights.
  Now let me note that I did not always hold the position on abortion 
that I do today. And for a great deal of time in my life, I didn't give 
it any thought at all in fact. And what convinced me, it was very 
interesting, I worked for Ronald Reagan years ago. And Reagan called me 
to the front of the bus one time. And he said, Dana, I want to talk to 
you about abortion, because he thought that I was disappointed in a 
decision that he had made to stand up against abortion. And I said, no, 
I'm not against it. I just don't know much about it, and I know there's 
a political price to pay for people who are so pro-abortion that they 
will come back to you on this issue. And he said, let me ask you this, 
Dana. If you had a close friend and she was pregnant, and perhaps a 
former boyfriend who hated her and wanted to get even with her for no 
longer being his girlfriend, then intentionally dragged her into an 
alley and kicked her in the stomach because he said, I know you're 
pregnant and I'm going to kill your baby.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Halvorson). The time of the gentleman 
has expired.

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