[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 96 (Thursday, June 16, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H3964]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





  SURVIVAL OF PREMATURE BABIES AS YOUNG AS 20 WEEKS POSTFERTILIZATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ratcliffe). Under the Speaker's 
announced policy of January 6, 2015, the Chair recognizes the gentleman 
from Arizona (Mr. Franks) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, I am fortunate this evening to 
have some precious friends in the gallery, and I am grateful that they 
are here. Their commitment to protecting the innocent unborn and their 
commitment just to America in general gives me great encouragement. My 
friends are Josh Decker and Rudolph Margraff. I am grateful that they 
are here.
  Mr. Speaker, sometimes in the area in which we live, we can become 
very dispirited; but once in a while, a medical marvel comes along and 
revives us all. Recently, the Pediatrics Journal of the American 
Medical Association reported on the progress being made in saving the 
earliest babies born prematurely.
  In a study conducted over 5 years in Cologne, Germany, the authors 
reviewed 106 cases of babies born from just under 22 weeks down to 20 
weeks after fertilization. The authors found that with active prenatal 
and postnatal care, two-thirds of these extremely premature babies 
survived until they were discharged from the hospital.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, these are much higher percentages than other recent 
studies have shown, and they demonstrate what active care, at what the 
authors call ``the border of viability,'' can accomplish.
  Mr. Speaker, I would just ask the Members of this body to consider 
and to absorb this encouraging and very enlightening news.
  This issue is real, Mr. Speaker, and it was torn from the abstract in 
my home State of Arizona, recently, when a 21-week-old baby--that is, 
21 weeks after fertilization--was born alive after surviving an 
abortion. This happened in a Phoenix abortion clinic. Unfortunately, 
the baby was not transferred to the hospital in time, and the baby 
died.
  Mr. Speaker, if the American people knew how often tragedies like 
this occur, they would be so desperately outraged. I would call upon 
the Democrats in the United States Senate to allow a vote on the Born-
Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. That bill passed this body 
overwhelmingly months ago, and it protected these, the tiniest of our 
little brothers and sisters.
  Mr. Speaker, protecting born-alive children is supported by 80 to 90 
percent of the American people, and if the United States Senate has 
become so dysfunctional that they can't even pass a bill to give 
effective Federal protection to innocent, born-alive children, then 
maybe it is time to board up the doors and windows of this place, go 
home, and hope the barbarians of this world will show more courage and 
mercy than we do. It is no wonder the American people are so fed up 
with the dysfunctional gridlock in the United States Senate.
  Mr. Speaker, we are talking about protecting our born-alive little 
fellow human beings. The survival of these little babies is not a 
measure of their intrinsic and priceless value. It is a measure of our 
skill and will to help them live. I just hope that we can remind 
ourselves of our profound responsibility before God and to our oath of 
office to protect these, the tiniest of our little brothers and 
sisters.
  Mr. Speaker, I truly hope the United States Senate will pass the 
Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. It deserves a vote. 
Democrats should allow it to come to the floor, and the Senate 
leadership should have the courage to put it on the floor for a fair 
up-or-down vote. If it gets a vote, it will pass.
  We have not lost our humanity completely, but have we lost the 
courage to make sure that something like that gets a vote? There are a 
lot of little voices that we can't hear that I think would ask that 
question if they could.
  Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the time, and I yield back the balance 
of my time.

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