[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 8 (Thursday, January 20, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E90-E91]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




THE INTRODUCTION OF THE ``NO TAXPAYER FUNDING FOR ABORTION ACT''--H.R. 
   3 ``ACCEPTABLE BIGOTRY''--PREJUDICE AGAINST THE CHILD IN THE WOMB

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                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 20, 2011

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, yesterday an abortionist in 
Philadelphia--Dr. Kermit Gosnell--was arrested and charged in the death 
of a mother, and seven babies who were born alive but then killed by 
severing their spinal cords with a pair of scissors.
  According to the Philadelphia CBS TV affiliate, the district attorney 
said that in one year alone, Dr. Gosnell made approximately $1.8 
million performing abortions.
  The abortion industry, Mr. Speaker, is a multibillion dollar 
business.
  Planned Parenthood boasts that in 2008 alone, their abortionists 
killed over 324,000 babies while raking in an approximately $1 billion 
in fees and local, state and federal government subsidies.
  The ugly truth is that abortionists often get filthy rich, not by 
healing or nurturing or curing--but by dismembering and decapitating 
the fragile bodies of unborn children; by starving the child in the 
womb with lethal agents like RU486 or by other means of chemical 
poisoning.
  The ugly truth is that women are victimized by abortion--wounded and 
hurt physically and emotionally. Women deserve better than abortion.
  The only thing the multibillion dollar abortion industry has produced 
in America--and worldwide--is victims: wounded women and over 52 
million dead babies in the United States since 1973--more than six 
times the entire population of my home state of New Jersey.
  The multibillion dollar abortion industry systematically dehumanizes 
the weakest and most vulnerable among us with catchy slogans, slick 
advertising, clever marketing, and aggressive lobbying.
  They have made the unacceptable--to be prejudiced and bigoted against 
the child in the womb--acceptable to some.
  This ``acceptable bigotry'' has been promoted for decades, despite 
breathtaking advances in fetal medicine including micro-surgery 
underscoring the fact that an unborn child

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is a patient in need of care, just like anyone else, and despite that 
amazing window to the womb--ultrasound imaging.
  In 1976, Dr. Willard Cates and Dr. David Grimes then with the Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) presented a paper to a Planned 
Parenthood meeting entitled ``Abortion as a Treatment for Unintended 
Pregnancy: The Number Two Sexually Transmitted Disease.''
  These two abortion doctors reduced the child in the womb to the 
equivalent of a parasite or disease to be vanquished. As far as I know, 
no one at Planned Parenthood objected to the dehumanizing language and 
obvious bigotry towards children.
  The evidence of significant harm to women who abort increases each 
year.
  Abortion hurts women's health and puts future children subsequently 
born to women who aborted at significant risk. At least 102 studies 
show significant psychological harm, major depression and elevated 
suicide risk in women who abort.
  The Times of London reported that, ``[S]enior . . . psychiatrists say 
that new evidence has uncovered a clear link between abortion and 
mental illness in women with no previous history of psychological 
problems.'' They found, ``that women who have had abortions have twice 
the level of psychological problems and three times the level of 
depression as women who have given birth or who have never been 
pregnant . . .''
  In 2006, a comprehensive New Zealand study found that 78.6 percent of 
the 15-18 year olds who had abortions displayed symptoms of major 
depression as compared to 31 percent of their peers. The study also 
found that 27 percent of the 21-25 year old women who had abortions had 
suicidal idealizations compared to eight percent of those who did not 
have an abortion.
  Abortion isn't safe for subsequent children born to women who have 
had an abortion. At least 113 studies show a significant association 
between abortion and subsequent premature births. For example a study 
by researchers Shah and Zoe showed a 36 percent increased risk for 
preterm birth after one abortion and a staggering 93 percent increased 
risk after two.
  Similarly, the risk of subsequent children being born with low birth 
weight increases by 35 percent after one and 72 percent after two or 
more abortions. Another study shows the risk increases nine times after 
a woman has had three abortions.
  What does this mean for her children? Preterm birth is the leading 
cause of infant mortality in the industrialized world after congenital 
anomalies. Preterm infants have a greater risk of suffering from 
chronic lung disease, sensory deficits, cerebral palsy, cognitive 
impairments and behavior problems. Low birth weight is similarly 
associated with neonatal mortality and morbidity.
  Dr. Alveda King, niece of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whom 
we honored on Monday, has joined the growing coalition of women who 
deeply regret their abortions and are ``Silent No More.'' Out of deep 
personal pain and compassion for others, Dr. King, who had two 
abortions and the women of ``Silent No More'' challenge us to respect, 
protect and tangibly love both the mother and the child. The women of 
``Silent No More'' give post-abortive women a safe place to grieve, and 
a roadmap for reconciliation.
  This week, with the full and unequivocal support of Speaker Boehner 
and Majority Leader Cantor, more than 150 Members and I will introduce 
the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act--a government wide prohibition 
on taxpayer subsidization for abortion and conscience protections with 
durable remedies.
  Abortion is not health care. And polls show that taxpayers strongly 
oppose publically funded abortion--67 percent according to a recent 
Quinnipiac University poll.
  Our new bill is designed to permanently end any U.S. government 
financial support for abortion whether it be direct funding or by tax 
credits or any other subsidy.
  Regarding conscience rights--last year, Cathy DeCarlo, a nurse at Mt. 
Sinai Hospital in New York was compelled--despite her strong moral and 
religious objections--to assist in a grisly D&E abortion which has been 
described by the U.S. Supreme Court as a procedure where the doctor 
uses forceps to tear apart the unborn child. D&E abortion is a gruesome 
act of child abuse.
  Ms. DeCarlo sued--asserting her right to conscience had been violated 
under existing federal law. Her case was dismissed, however, due to the 
lack of prescribed remedies.
  The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act protects conscience rights 
of individuals and institutions by empowering the courts with the 
authority to prevent and redress actual or threatened violations of 
conscience.
  President Obama has said he wants abortion to be rare. Well, Mr. 
Obama, here is a bill for you. Even the Guttmacher Institute, the 
former research arm of Planned Parenthood, says that taxpayer funding 
bans are a proven abortion reduction method. According to Guttmacher, 
studies show that when abortion is not publically funded, abortions in 
the covered population are reduced by roughly 25 percent.

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