[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 10 (Thursday, January 17, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H705-H708]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             MARCH FOR LIFE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2019, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, tomorrow, tens of thousands 
of Americans will rally in favor of life, because we have a moral duty 
to defend the weakest and most vulnerable. I will have a little more to 
say later on in the Special Order. But it is my distinct privilege to 
yield to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx), a great leader 
and a compassionate leader as well.
  Ms. FOXX of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
his leadership over the years on the issue of life.
  Madam Speaker, in recognition of the anniversary of Roe v. Wade this 
coming Tuesday, I want to bring the real impetus of the pro-life 
movement to the forefront of civil discourse.
  The pro-life movement fights to protect life, from conception until 
natural death, and we stand ready to support mothers who face the 
challenges of an unexpected pregnancy. We also know that abortion is 
immoral and permitting it deeply wounds our society. The cause for life 
deserves to be heard this week.
  Lately, though, there have been nuanced attempts by the left to 
hijack the meaning of pro-life and impose upon it a Big Government 
agenda.
  We can all agree that the illegal ending of a life through violence 
is tragic and wrong. The reason the pro-life movement opposes Roe v. 
Wade is because the U.S. Supreme Court case permits the legal killing 
of our Nation's most vulnerable.
  The pro-life movement is at the forefront of human dignity. We know 
that upholding human dignity requires that people be able to meet their 
needs for housing, education, and nutrition. However, the public 
policies that lead to the optimal conditions for human flourishing are 
worthy of their own debates, so let's leave aside the straw-man tactics 
and have debates on those policies at the appropriate time.
  This week, we are talking about the inalienable right to life, from 
conception until natural death.
  To all who are fighting to protect life, know that I am proud of you 
and behind you 100 percent. As the 46th Annual March for Life takes 
place in Washington this week, I am sure the country will need look no 
further than the witnesses marching to the Supreme Court for an 
accurate understanding of what we pro-lifers are all about.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for 
her very eloquent remarks.
  I yield to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Marshall).
  Mr. MARSHALL. Madam Speaker, I am horribly disappointed and ashamed 
that, today, taxpayers remain the top funding source for America's 
abortion leader, Planned Parenthood.
  As an obstetrician and gynecologist, I have delivered thousands of 
babies from Kansas. I dedicated my career to protecting the sanctity of 
life, and I firmly and wholeheartedly believe that life begins at 
conception.
  There are countless stories that I could share today, and I can tell 
you that some of the children I delivered are now in college. Some are 
star athletes. Some are leaders at their church and in their 
communities. And some are at the top of their class.
  They are nurses and soldiers, doctors and pharmacists, police 
officers and teachers, clergy and judges. Perhaps most importantly, 
many are now moms and dads themselves.
  I know these stories because, as I travel throughout Kansas, I see 
the moms, the moms I have delivered, and I see their children. They are 
now adults leading their own lives.
  What no one on this Earth can do is tell the stories of the babies 
that were aborted and given no chance to share their gifts with the 
world.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I thank Dr. Marshall very 
much for his comments and, again, for his leadership. I am so glad to 
have him here.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen).
  Mr. ALLEN. Madam Speaker, I thank Congressman Smith for organizing 
this Special Order today.
  Madam Speaker, every year, hundreds of thousands of individuals from 
all over the country come together for the annual March for Life, 
marking the Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade.
  As a strong advocate and believer in the Word of God, I believe it is 
my duty to stand up for those who cannot defend themselves and lend my 
voice to those who cannot speak for themselves.
  Psalm 127:3 says: ``Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a 
reward from him.'' That is exactly what they are, a gift from God that 
should be cherished mightily.

  We must do more in this body to fight for the life of these children. 
I, myself, have cosponsored and supported pro-life bills, but we must 
bring them to the House floor and always ensure that pro-life 
priorities are included in any relevant bill we pass.
  I am proud to be an advocate for life and a fighter for the unborn, 
just like the thousands of men and women and children who will be 
marching along the streets of Washington, D.C., tomorrow. I thank them 
for their commitment to this important cause.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from 
Nebraska (Mr. Fortenberry), a member of the Appropriations Committee 
from Nebraska One who has been outspoken for the entirety of his career 
in defense of human life, as well as religious freedom.
  Mr. FORTENBERRY. Madam Speaker, I thank Congressman Smith, not only 
for his tireless leadership, but his compassionate, passionate voice on 
behalf of women, saying loudly and clearly, consistently, over the time 
he has been in Congress, that women deserve better.
  Madam Speaker, we live in an age of contradiction. We say that we 
want peace. We say that we want joy. We say that we want happiness, 
that we ought to be living in a good and authentic, committed 
community, and that we ought to uphold the noble ideal of human 
dignity. But we have to ask some difficult questions. We have to ask 
why.
  Why, in this age of material plenty, is life expectancy in America 
declining?
  Why, in this age of vast and accelerating scientific discovery and 
technological innovation, is the world still screaming for meaning? 
Why?
  Could it be that we have to be brave enough, that we have to be bold 
enough, to look and confront our own contradictions?
  We say we want community, but do we really care?
  We say we want justice, but with certain exceptions.
  We say we want liberty for all but, really, only for our own 
perspective.
  Madam Speaker, the reality is, life is hard. Life can be brutal. Life 
can sometimes be very unfair.

                              {time}  1430

  The reality is we have to face this together.
  This is why the demands of community, the demands of justice, the 
demands of compassion, the demands of liberty say to the woman, no 
matter how hard the circumstances, what a gift you are and what a gift 
the unborn

[[Page H706]]

life is within you. What a gift. What a gift.
  Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Fortenberry for 
those very eloquent comments. To our colleagues and to those watching 
this at home, I think he really has touched a chord.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot).
  Madam Speaker, Mr. Chabot is the prime author of the Partial-Birth 
Abortion Ban, a hideous method of abortion where the baby is half born 
and then is snuffed out when his or her brains are literally drawn from 
the baby's brain area. I thank the gentleman for authoring that 
legislation.
  Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman very much. I 
appreciate him yielding. I just want to make sure that we recognize his 
leadership on this issue for such a long time. When I first came to the 
House, Henry Hyde was still here, and he was known as the father of the 
pro-life movement, at least in Congress, and Mr. Smith has taken that 
mantle from him, because he clearly is the leader amongst all of us 
here that have been trying to protect innocent unborn lives for many 
years now, so I thank the gentleman for that. He does a great job for 
the people of his district, but particularly on the pro-life issue on a 
national basis, so I thank him for that.
  Madam Speaker, our colleague, Mr. Fortenberry, just mentioned he 
wanted to thank Mr. Smith also for always advocating on behalf of 
women, which he does.
  I just wanted to make the point clearly that when there is an 
abortion, there are two victims, obviously the unborn child's life who 
is snuffed out before they really have an opportunity to come and 
experience life as we all do--they are alive, but they aren't 
necessarily conscious, obviously, and so miss out on 60, 70, 80, 90, 
maybe, plus years of life--but the mother is also a victim.
  I have had many women who have had abortions, and ultimately later 
on, because of so much trauma they have had over their lives in dealing 
with it psychologically, have become strongly pro-life themselves, and 
I have met them at many, many different pro-life events.
  Madam Speaker, I also want to thank all those students and teachers 
and parents and clergy who will be once again here this year marching 
for the cause of life.
  This happens every year. It doesn't get a lot of attention by the 
media, unfortunately. Oftentimes there will be a dozen or a couple of 
dozen protesters, and they will have equal coverage to the 100,000 or 
more pro-life folks that will be here. It is a disgrace that that 
happens, but I have seen it literally over the years happen.
  Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, Brad Wenstrup. He and I 
together will be joining with those pro-life folks tomorrow, and we 
will have at least 1,000 or so from our area. Our folks will be coming 
from Cincinnati and from Hamilton and Warren Counties back in Ohio. I 
want to thank them for coming.
  As Mr. Smith mentioned, I was involved and have been involved in my 
23 years here in Congress. In fact, I wanted to get on the Judiciary 
Committee because I knew that was the committee where a lot of pro-life 
legislation originates.
  So working my way up on that committee, I chaired the Constitution 
Subcommittee and introduced two pieces of pro-life legislation that 
became law. One was the Born Alive Infant Protection Act.
  We had people who have worked in abortion mills who would come in, 
and they would say they saw instances where a baby would be 
unexpectedly born alive, a later-term abortion, and they were found in 
a sink, in a closet, in a soiled utility area and weren't getting any 
kind of what we would basically give as humane treatment to animals. 
Human beings at an early stage of life were just being left there.
  Now, as a result of that bill, which President Bush signed into law, 
they have to at least get dignity. They don't have to take 
extraordinary measures to keep them alive, but they at least have some 
human dignity.
  Then following up from that was the bill that we mentioned, the ban 
on partial-birth abortion, a particularly gruesome form of abortion, 
which is now banned. We think 30,000 or so a year doesn't happen. That 
is the good news.
  The bad news is all abortions are pretty horrific, whether they use 
some salt solution or whether they are literally dismembered and pulled 
out piece by piece. They are all horrible, whatever stage they are, 
because they are snuffing out that life.
  Madam Speaker, I want to thank some of my colleagues for promoting 
additional legislation, for example, the Pain-Capable, which 
essentially says that if the baby can experience pain, which we think 
is around 20 weeks, that you can't go beyond that; most of us say not 
at earlier stages as well, but at least by that stage; or when there is 
a heartbeat, that we should also, if you detect a heartbeat, protect 
that child. And we ought to protect all these children.
  I will just conclude with this. Roe v. Wade happened on January 22, 
1973. That was the date that decision came out. January 22 is always 
kind of a special date, and that is when people are coming up for that 
date. That is the day I was born. My birthday is January 22. That was 
my 20th birthday in 1973, because I was born in 1953, but every day 
when my birthday comes around, I always think of all of those millions 
of children, we think about 61 million now, whose mothers made a 
different decision, and so they have not experienced the life that we 
all have been given the opportunity to experience.
  So let's do everything we can to protect those innocent unborn lives.
  Madam Speaker, I again thank Congressman Smith very much for his hard 
work in this area, and all the other Members involved.

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for his 
leadership.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Weber).
  Mr. WEBER of Texas. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New 
Jersey, a champion for pro-life, Mr. Chris Smith.
  Madam Speaker, I am a father of three. I am a grandfather of eight. 
As I often say when I speak to groups that children are an 
extraordinary gift.
  As Mr. Fortenberry said, women are gifts; the children they carry 
within them are gifts.
  Why don't we appreciate them more?
  I often tell kids that children are the only thing God can make 
adults with. If we don't give Him a ready supply, you don't want Him to 
run out. And they always chuckle, but I always remind them that they 
are created in the image of Almighty God.
  Look to the Bible in Jeremiah 1 and you will see the quote: ``Before 
I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you 
apart. I appointed you as a profit to the nations.''
  Children are known by God when they are in the womb of the mother. It 
is just that simple.
  Our great Nation has carried respect for life from the very moment of 
our founding. Our forefathers noted that we are endowed by our creator 
with certain unalienable rights. You heard Ms. Virginia Foxx talk about 
them.
  Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is promised to each of us 
in our Constitution, in our Declaration of Independence; not given to 
us by the Constitution or by the Declaration, but given to us by 
Almighty God.
  So long as those babies have a chance to live, they can experience 
those rights: the right to life, the right to liberty, the right to the 
pursuit of happiness. Everyone hearing my voice has that right and was 
given that right. Shouldn't they be given those same rights?
  Without the right to life, we are a Nation without the pursuit of 
happiness, without liberty.
  The Supreme Court erred mightily in this decision January 22, 1973. 
We should be a Nation of law, a Nation of rights, a Nation of life, and 
yet we seem to struggle with that proposition. Lord help us.
  Madam Speaker, I thank Chairman Smith for his diligence in this.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Weber very much 
for his very strong comments.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bergman), 
my good friend and colleague.
  Mr. BERGMAN. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Smith for yielding, and I

[[Page H707]]

truly thank him for being the spearhead. Somebody has to take the lead, 
and he has taken the lead magnificently to call attention continually 
to such, not only an important topic, an essential topic that we as 
Americans have to deal with.
  There is a book by author Simon Sinek that says, ``Start With Why''. 
Whys happen to us every day. The simple thing to start with is, Why are 
we here? Make no mistake: it is nobody's plan that we are here, with 
the exception of God's plan that we are here; no one else.
  In January 1973, Roe v. Wade was decided by the Supreme Court, as you 
all know, and in the 46 years since, far too many unborn lives have 
been taken that could not fight or speak for themselves. It is our 
duty, our solemn duty, as elected officials and as citizens of the 
United States, to fight for the unborn so that we all have a chance at 
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
  Every year, people from all over our Nation come together in D.C. to 
recognize the sanctity of life and to acknowledge that every life in 
every stage is precious. Many of those people are on the road right now 
as we are here, driving here, flying here from all over the country.
  We are going to have a lot of folks from northern Michigan coming 
here. I am looking forward to seeing them and greeting them tomorrow 
morning as they prepare for the March for Life tomorrow afternoon.
  The commitment that they have shown, again, citizens from all over 
the country, bringing their children, bringing all generations here to 
march for life, that is a commitment.
  As a father and a grandfather, I am proud to be a member of the Pro-
Life Caucus and I am proud to fight alongside my colleagues to be the 
voice for those who have no voice.
  Madam Speaker, again, I thank Chairman Smith for his diligent work 
and leadership for the cause for life. I look forward to all of the 
work ahead of us fighting to defend all life.
  I am especially thankful that the mothers of all my colleagues here 
in the House of Representatives in the 116th Congress, all 434 of them, 
my mom makes 435, I am so glad that they all chose life, because that 
decision decades ago has enabled us as elected representatives of the 
American people to truly discuss what it means, the sanctity of life, 
what God's plan is, and what our role is as elected officials ensuring 
that God's plan for future generations yields the young men and women 
who will someday take our places and thank us.
  God bless us all.
  Madam Speaker, I thank Chairman Smith for yielding.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Bergman for being 
here on the Special Order. We are so proud to have him on the Pro-Life 
Caucus. I thank him for his leadership.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Davidson), 
from Ohio's Eighth Congressional District.
  Mr. DAVIDSON of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Smith for yielding.
  Today I affirm that pro-life is also pro-science. Advances in 
science, especially ultrasound technology in medicine, make this clear, 
not just to parents, but to anyone who will see the live baby human 
growing inside a mother's womb; that we are talking not about a clump 
of cells as some like to refer to them, but indeed a baby human. As a 
result, the country is becoming increasingly pro-life.
  Every single life has purpose and dignity. As Pope John Paul, II, 
stated:

       Human life has dignity not because of the work people do, 
     but because it is imprinted with God's image.

                              {time}  1445

  This week, I am proud to welcome pro-life leaders and friends from 
Ohio's Eighth District traveling to Washington, D.C., for the March for 
Life.
  Today, we look forward to the day when Americans will contritely turn 
away from abortion, perhaps as vigorously as they have rejected the 
abhorrent etiology that led to the three-fifth compromise.
  Knowing women who have experienced abortion, I also hope that 
everyone will show kindness and mercy to those who wrestle with the 
enduring trauma with repentance. May God have mercy on them and on all 
of us.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Gohmert).
  Mr. GOHMERT. Madam Speaker, I appreciate my friend, Congressman 
Smith, for his efforts in this regard.
  Madam Speaker, I have talked before about my wife's and my first 
child being born prematurely. We didn't know if we were going to get to 
keep her. My wife had to stay in the hospital in Tyler. They took our 
precious daughter many weeks early to Shreveport.
  The doctor there said: Her eyes are not working properly. She can't 
see, but she knows your voice. She has heard it for a number of months 
now. It will give her comfort. So caress her, let her know you are 
here, and talk to her. Let her feel your presence. Let her hear your 
presence.
  They said: You can stay a maximum of 2 hours before you have to take 
a break.
  While I was touching her little hand, she took my finger and held it.
  The doctor came along in an hour or so and said: Have you looked at 
the monitors? That erratic breathing is now much smoother. Still very 
shallow, the heart rate still very fast, but it is not erratic. She is 
drawing life, and she is drawing strength, through you.
  I am telling you, these children, unborn and born prematurely and 
born full-term, they want to live. They want a shot at life.
  I know there is so much out there: Oh, but a woman has a right to 
choose.
  But we should speak up for the most vulnerable who can't speak for 
themselves.
  That is what Ramona Trevino did, former director of the Sherman 
Planned Parenthood. She said what finally drove her out of Planned 
Parenthood were the monthly statistics. The most important statistic 
was how many young children, as young as 12, are you getting on birth 
control pills, because the younger you get them on birth control pills, 
the more likely they will miss days, but they will be sexually active, 
multiple partners, and the more likely they will get pregnant, and we 
make a lot of money off the abortions. So the most critical thing: get 
them on those birth control pills.
  Where in the world does that end up being good for the child? Where?
  We have people in China; they abort female children right and left. 
Let's speak up for the females, for the unborn. Give them a chance. Let 
them live. You will be better. They will be better.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I will just say a couple of 
words, and then I will yield to my good friend, Dr. Harris.
  Madam Speaker, doctors today routinely diagnose and treat a myriad of 
conditions, illnesses, and diseases suffered by society's littlest 
patients--unborn babies--significantly enhancing their health and 
chances to survive and to thrive. Comprehensive maternal and prenatal 
care is critical and ensures that both mother and baby are as healthy 
as possible during pregnancy and childbirth and in the weeks that 
follow.
  Yet, tragically, in the United States, we have one of the highest 
maternal mortality rates in the developed world. While unborn children 
are killed at an unconscionable rate, nearly 2,500 children's lives are 
destroyed each and every day, about 906,000 in 2018 and more than 62 
million dead babies since 1973. That shocking loss of children's lives 
equates with the entire population of England, more than 62 million 
kids who have been lost.
  This stunning loss of children's lives has occurred during a time 
when science has made it absolutely clear that birth is an important 
event in the life of a child. It is an event. It is not the beginning 
of life; it is an event. And the miracle of life before birth is 
nothing short of breathtaking.
  The first baby pictures today, proudly shared and displayed, are, 
most often, ultrasound photos, showing the baby alive and growing in 
the womb. They are not of newborns--them, too, later. But the first 
shot that we get to see of our kids and grandkids are while they are 
still in utero.
  The humanity of these children is beyond doubt, yet the pro-abortion 
movement, like some kind of modern-day flat Earth society, continues to 
cling to outdated, indefensible arguments cloaked in euphemism.

[[Page H708]]

  Even the seemingly benign word ``choice'' withers under scrutiny. 
Choice to do what? Dismember a baby, starve a child to death like RU486 
does, and then forcibly expel her or him from the womb?
  In order to facilitate the baby's extermination, the pro-abortionists 
aggressively deny, and they profoundly disrespect, the unborn child. 
They loudly mock and belittle those who defend a child's right to life.
  Anybody in the pro-life movement knows what that mocking is like. 
Frankly, that harsh criticism causes us to work even harder and, 
hopefully, more effectively to try to protect these weakest and most 
vulnerable among us.

  Someday, I truly believe Americans will look back at America's 
abortion culture, which has, again, killed, to date, about 62 million 
babies, and wonder how such a seemingly compassionate and enlightened 
society could have had that blind spot that could not see the innate 
goodness and value, pricelessness, of that unborn child.
  As   Steve Chabot said earlier today, we know that the women are the 
co-victims. I and my wife and those of us in the pro-life movement do 
work with postabortive women. We love them. We care for them.
  Just yesterday, I met with two more women who are postabortive and 
talked about the agony that they quietly dealt with for so long. There 
are now many ministries that try to try to reach out to them to say: We 
want you to have a better life, a life of reconciliation and hope. You 
do not have to suffer alone. There are people who care for you.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Harris) 
the cochairman of the Pro-Life Caucus.
  Mr. HARRIS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for 
yielding to me, obviously, on the eve of the March for Life.
  Madam Speaker, let me follow up with what my cochairman has said. It 
has been 46 years since Roe v. Wade, a generation and a half. There is 
no question that there have been incredibly significant scientific 
advances in that time, advances that make the humanity of the in utero 
child clear and that we have to revisit.
  The fact is that science has now put to shame the idea that life 
developing within the womb is merely a ``clump of cells.'' Well, I 
could describe any of us as a clump of cells, too. I mean, I guess, 
technically, that is what we are. But science now has gone deeper and 
allows us to show exactly what is happening and when a human being 
exists.
  So let's ask ourselves: Who exactly is human? It is an important 
question, because if you are human, you are entitled to human rights, 
and those rights are guaranteed under our Constitution. It is a 
critically important question: When is someone human?
  Now, science has answered that pretty clearly. At the moment of 
conception, when a sperm cell from a human joins together with an egg 
cell from a human, a new human life begins. Absolutely unique.
  How do we know that? Well, in those 46 years since Roe v. Wade has 
been promulgated, we actually have Nobel Prizes for DNA describing DNA 
and genetics. We know that, at that moment, a unique human being has 
been formed with unique DNA.
  My gosh, anybody who watches NCIS knows that. Anybody who opens a 
high school textbook knows that. When are we going to figure it out? 
Because, at conception, a new member of the homo sapiens species--that 
is what it is; let's talk scientific--is verifiable by uniquely human 
DNA.
  From the moment of conception, any test on that life will show it is 
uniquely human, nothing else. It is not a little chicken. It is not a 
little frog. It is not a little cat. It is not a little dog. It is a 
small human being.
  Because of that, exactly at this point, we have to insist on that 
human being's protection under the law.
  This fact is not radical. It is not religious. It is bluntly, 
clearly, unarguably scientific, because over the course of a human's 
development in the womb, there is now what we call ontological change, 
that is, no change in the nature of that human being. The only change 
is the change in the size. That is the only difference.
  Despite being further along in development, adults are certainly no 
more human than adolescents, adolescents no more human than middle 
schoolers, middle schoolers no more human than kindergartners, 
kindergartners no more human than toddlers, toddlers no more human than 
babies, and babies no more human than that in utero human being.
  We can't allow the convenience and politics of abortion to obscure 
science. Humans in the womb deserve rights because they are uniquely 
human. They deserve human rights.
  The science empowers us, and may the Lord, who is the author of all 
creation, encourage us today on the eve of the March for Life. In the 
words of the prophet Isaiah: ``But those who hope in the Lord will 
renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will 
run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.''
  Tomorrow, let us march and not lose heart for the sake of all the 
little hearts that are beginning to beat at 22 days after conception 
who require our advocacy. We must advocate for a reconsideration of Roe 
v. Wade as soon as possible to allow us to protect all these human 
lives.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I thank Dr. Harris for his 
extraordinarily eloquent remarks.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the remainder of my time.

                          ____________________