[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. ____________________