[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 57 (Tuesday, April 2, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H2941-H2942]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 FULL PROTECTION FOR BABIES BORN ALIVE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Louisiana (Mr. Scalise) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the House on an 
important issue, and maybe the most important issue, Mr. Speaker, and 
that is the issue of life.

[[Page H2942]]

  We brought a bill forward, H.R. 962, the Born-Alive Abortion 
Survivors Protection Act. This is a bill, Mr. Speaker, that many wonder 
why is it even necessary that we need a law to say that if a baby is 
born alive, outside of the womb, we need to give it the full 
protections under law.
  Many people ask, Mr. Speaker, why isn't that already protected? If a 
baby is born alive, it should have the full protections of anybody 
else. And yet, as we see in States like New York and other States 
around the country, they allow, in those States, the baby, even after 
it is born alive, to be killed. To me, Mr. Speaker, that is murder, and 
yet, in many States, they don't have the full protection that all of us 
enjoy. How could that be, in the United States of America, that a baby 
born alive can still be killed after it is born outside of the womb?
  This issue transcends the abortion debate. In fact, people across 
every spectrum--Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, even people 
who align themselves as pro-choice--believe it is wrong to murder the 
baby after it is born alive, and yet it is still allowed. There should 
be no reason that this is a gray issue.
  Today, Mr. Speaker, I will be joining my colleague, Ann Wagner, the 
lead author of this bill, to start a discharge petition: an opportunity 
for every Member of Congress to make their voices heard loud and clear 
that this bill ought to come to this floor for a full debate and, 
ultimately, for a vote.
  We ought to pass this law, Mr. Speaker. There should be no doubt. It 
shouldn't be a partisan issue. It shouldn't be an issue that we have 
disagreement over, and yet we do. For whatever reason, the Speaker will 
not allow this bill, though, to come up for a vote. We have tried time 
after time to move unanimous consent to bring this bill to the floor 
and, for months, that motion has been denied.
  The most vulnerable among us should no longer be denied that 
protection under the law. Mr. Speaker, this bill has to come up for a 
vote. This bill has to be debated by the people's House.
  Why not allow people all across the country to participate in this 
debate? As they find out about it, the reaction I get is not a debate 
on political lines, it is shock that this isn't already law.
  Every baby born alive, Mr. Speaker, ought to have the full protection 
under law that is currently provided to all of us. H.R. 962 should be 
one of the easiest things that we pass through this House, yet, 
unfortunately, it has become one of the most difficult. But that is 
okay, Mr. Speaker. We know that it is the difficult things that we come 
here to do, not the easy, because it would have already been done.
  So we are going to be leading the charge today, standing with people 
all across the country. And, in fact, we are actually bringing in 
people, Mr. Speaker, who survived an attempted abortion. It happens all 
across this country. And when that baby is born alive, that baby ought 
to have the full protection under the law. We will start the process 
today to ensure that that full debate happens and, ultimately, that the 
vote happens to pass the Born Alive Act.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to sign on to this discharge 
petition.

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