[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 15 (Monday, January 22, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S442-S443]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                PAIN-CAPABLE UNBORN CHILD PROTECTION ACT

  Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, before I got involved in politics, I spent 
28 years in the private sector--small businesses, medium-sized 
businesses, a Fortune 25 company. The Fortune 25 company was Proctor & 
Gamble. I spent 14 years with that company, and one of our assignments 
took us to mainland China.
  I remember when we were offered the assignment and we took the job. 
At that time, we had a little boy, David, our first child. He was about 
18 months old. Our second child, Annie, was just born, a new baby, 
several weeks old. We moved to Guangzhou. That was in January of 1992.
  We were part of leading the team that pioneered the operations for 
Proctor & Gamble back in the early days of the expansion of the 
company. Today, that geography, in fact, I think is P&G's second 
largest geography as it relates to sales in the world.
  I remember we spent some time with other American families from 
around the world. There were American families. There were families 
from virtually every continent. These expats living over there would 
spend time going to orphanages.
  We would go to these orphanages, usually on a Saturday, and we would 
hold these babies. Sometimes they had disabilities. Some of these 
babies never received human touch except for when these families--
oftentimes American families--would go and hold them. On a positive 
note, it built in a conscience at that orphanage. They knew the 
Americans were coming on Saturday. Things got cleaned up, the babies 
were getting a little better fed, and that was a good thing, but we 
were fighting on behalf of those who had life and weren't being treated 
very well.
  I want to tell a couple of stories about things that happened while 
we were over there in China. I was running a large organization. I had 
many Chinese employees who were working for me. I remember one day one 
of my key managers came and he said: Steve, I need to go to the police 
station this afternoon.
  I said: Oh, my word. Is there something wrong? Do you need some help?
  He said: No, not really. My wife is pregnant, and we did not have 
permission from the authorities to get pregnant.
  I said: Well, what does that mean?
  He said: Well, that might mean they would terminate the pregnancy, 
require it.
  At that moment, I looked at that employee--one of my key managers--
and I said: I will do all I need to do, all I can, to ensure that we 
protect that baby, assuming you want to keep that baby.
  And he said: My wife and I do want to keep that baby.
  I said: What does help look like? How can I help you?
  He said: Well, can I get a case of shampoo?
  Now, we were making some well-known brands, including Head & 
Shoulders shampoo, Vidal Sassoon, Pantene. We were making Crest 
toothpaste then and Tide. We had these world-class brands.
  So I gave him a case of shampoo, and he went downtown to see the 
authorities. That case of shampoo saved the life of that baby, and they 
now have a beautiful grown daughter.
  Another day I was at work and my phone rang. My wife Cindy called me.
  She said: Steve, you will not believe it, but we just had twin baby 
girls dropped off on our doorstep in our apartment in Guangzhou.
  I said: Twin baby girls? Really?
  At that point, we had three children. We went over to China with two. 
We had two more, in fact, while we were living over there. At that 
time, we had three.
  She said: They are just infants.
  The story behind that is, there was a mother who lived in the 
countryside who had one baby, a little girl, and she got pregnant with 
twins. Because of the one-child policy, she was in trouble, and she 
fled to the countryside. In fact, she was hiding in a remote location, 
and her mother would come out to feed the mother and the babies to keep 
them alive.
  To make a long story short, we battled for a couple of years because 
there was no paper trail for these two beautiful Chinese babies. There 
was an American family who worked for Proctor & Gamble--one of my 
associates who wanted to adopt those babies.
  I can tell you, there was another happy ending this time to that 
story. They are now two beautiful young women who are living in the 
United States as U.S. citizens.
  These stories demonstrate the importance of saving one life at a 
time.
  I share these stories because today is the 45th anniversary of the 
Supreme Court's decision on Roe v. Wade. I know there is a lot going on 
at the moment. The Senate just voted to reopen the government. The 
House will follow shortly. The President will sign that bill. Common 
sense has prevailed. We have the government open again. In fact, we are 
reauthorizing the Children's Health Insurance Program for 6 years.
  Today, in the midst of all of these important issues we are dealing 
with, we cannot--we must not--forget that each year in the United 
States, over 600,000 babies lose their fight for life due to abortion. 
No case of shampoo is able to save them. They never got the chance to 
be adopted. That is over 600,000 babies a year; 60 million since the 
Supreme Court's decision on Roe v. Wade in 1973, 45 years ago today.
  I told a little bit about David when I started my remarks, our oldest 
son of our four children. David was born in the United States before we 
moved to China. I think, as a parent--and if you

[[Page S443]]

are a parent, you remember that with new babies, when you take them to 
get their shots, it is much harder on mom and dad than it is on the 
baby. The baby is screaming and crying from the pain they are feeling, 
and you as a parent want to take away that pain. It is part of the 
natural response of any mom or dad.
  Tragically, in this Nation, there are over 13,000 babies aborted that 
are over 20 weeks old. You see, at 20 weeks, that baby can yawn. It can 
make faces. It can stretch. The science tells us babies at 20 weeks of 
age can feel pain. So think about the pain a parent feels when a 
newborn receives a vaccination, and imagine the pain a baby at 20 weeks 
and beyond feels if it is being aborted. In fact, when they do in utero 
surgery at 20 weeks and beyond, they administer anesthesia to that 
baby.

  We must continue to fight to protect life at all stages. Certainly, 
where we can take steps--bipartisan steps--to protect life, we should. 
I think we might be able to agree that banning elective abortions for 
babies who are 20 weeks or older--that is 5 months, well past the 
halfway stage of gestation--we should do that.
  At the center of this debate is a tiny child, and that baby can't 
speak for itself yet. Those babies we fought for in China--whether it 
was that baby who was saved by a case of shampoo or those twin baby 
girls who were dropped off on our doorstep--couldn't speak and fight 
for their lives. The babies in the womb, their cries aren't audible. We 
at least could hear the cries of the twin baby girls. That is why we 
must act on their behalf.
  Studies have shown that the vast majority of Americans are in favor 
of prohibiting late-term abortions, of stopping elective abortions 
after 20 weeks. In fact, if you poll millennials, that number is even 
higher. Why is that? I am not sure I have the precise answer, but one 
possibility is technology. If you have a smartphone, take it out. I 
can't do that because we are prohibited on the floor of the Senate, so 
I can't demonstrate it here, but if you have a smartphone or your 
computer or your iPad, go to Google and just type in ``20 weeks.'' That 
is all. You don't have to type in ``baby.'' Just type in ``20 weeks'' 
and look at what pops up. What you will see are images of what a baby 
looks like at 20 weeks. I think technology is now convincing 
millennials that what goes on in the womb at 20 weeks is a life; it is 
not just a piece of flesh. That is why we need to pass the Pain-Capable 
Unborn Child Protection Act.
  By the way, just last week the Department of Health and Human 
Services announced a new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division 
within its Office of Civil Rights. The administration is committed--and 
I am grateful they are committed--to enforcing existing conscience 
laws. I don't believe anyone should be forced to participate in an 
activity like abortion that violates their conscience.
  I am grateful for this administration's commitment to protecting life 
and the rights of conscience, and I stand ready to work with them and 
anyone here on either side of the aisle to advance the cause for life.
  I have always believed that people will believe those things they 
discover for themselves. As a parent, you know that you can teach your 
children, and you can say things to your children, but ultimately it is 
a process of their discovering something for themselves before they 
really will believe something. I think that is what is going on right 
now with millennials and the issue of late-term abortions and the 
issues of life, because technology is showing all of us--with the 
incredible clarity of ultrasounds and getting visibility of what is 
going on inside and that amazing miracle of life--that, indeed, it is a 
life.
  Since the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade, 60 million babies 
have lost their lives to abortion. We can honor their memories by 
acting to end this atrocity.
  I very much look forward to seeing the Pain-Capable Unborn Child 
Protection Act come to the floor of the Senate. We may have 
disagreements about when life begins, but let's all agree that we 
should stop late-term abortions. At 20 weeks is when that little baby 
can feel pain. I think that is a reasonable place to draw the line to 
get bipartisan support going forward. Only seven countries in the world 
allow late-term abortions--seven countries. The United States is on the 
same list as North Korea.
  I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this most 
important legislation.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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