[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 39 (Thursday, February 27, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S1169]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Abortion

  Mr. President, this week, we voted on two very important bills--the 
Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and the Born-Alive Abortion 
Survivors Protection Act. Unfortunately, my colleagues on the 
Democratic side voted to block these bills, but I would like to thank 
my colleagues, Senators Graham and Sasse, for their leadership on these 
bills. I would like to thank Senator McConnell for his efforts to bring 
these bills to the floor.
  Now this short comment period I have here does have a happy ending, 
and I am actually anxious to share some things with people. When you 
look at these two bills--first, Senator Sasse's bill, the Born-Alive 
Abortion Survivors Protection Act--a bill I cosponsored in the past--it 
would ensure that a baby who survives an abortion would receive the 
same treatment as any other child who was naturally born at the same 
age. Now that is interesting. How many people out there realize that if 
someone goes to an abortion and they were not successful in killing the 
unborn baby, when they survive and they are out and they are breathing, 
they don't get the same treatment any other baby would get? People are 
not aware of that.

  So that is what this bill is all about. That is just morally right, 
and I don't see why there would be any disagreement about it. The bill 
is not even about abortion. It is about infanticide.
  It was 28 years ago that I came down here in this very Chamber to 
tell the story of Ana Rosa Rodriguez. This is what I said. Keep in mind 
this was 28 years ago. I said:

       Mr. Chairman, there is a big misconception regarding 
     abortion and the issue of women and their right to protect 
     their bodies. It is not that right that I object to but the 
     right that is given them to kill an unborn fetus--an unborn 
     child.
       I want to share with you a story that my colleague Chris 
     Smith told me some time ago on this very floor.
       Ana Rosa Rodriguez is an abortion survivor. . . . At birth 
     she was a healthy 3 pound baby girl, except for her injury; 
     she was missing an arm. Ana survived a botched abortion.
       Her mother attempted to get an abortion in her 32nd week of 
     pregnancy when she was perfectly healthy--8 weeks past what 
     New York State [at that time would] legally [allow]. In the 
     unsuccessful abortion attempt, the baby's right arm was 
     ripped off. However they failed to kill Ana Rosa. She lived. 
     Pro-life supporters agree that nightmare situations like the 
     Rodriguez case are probably not common, but abortion-related 
     deaths and serious injuries occur more frequently than most 
     people are aware.
       It is amazing that we [and I am still quoting from 28 years 
     ago] can pay so much attention to issues such as human rights 
     abroad and can allow the violent destruction of over 26 
     million children here at home. We are fortunate that Ana was 
     not one of those children. She survived.

  That was 1992. And today, we still don't have explicit Federal 
protections for babies who survive the brutal abortion process. As I 
said, this issue is not about abortion but about caring for a baby 
outside the womb. This baby is alive. It is a baby who is living in the 
real world.
  The need for these protections has become even clearer as we see 
States like New York and Illinois allowing abortion for virtually any 
reason up to the point of birth and supporting infanticide by removing 
protections for an infant born alive after a failed abortion.
  Just a few years ago, after that speech--and that would have been in 
1997--I was on the floor with my good friend Rick Santorum to try to 
pass a partial-birth abortion ban and end the practice of late-term 
abortions. Fortunately, we won--won the battle against partial-birth 
abortions and finally ended that practice in 2003. That ban was upheld 
by the Supreme Court in 2007.
  We have yet to pass legislation banning late-term abortion. Only 
seven countries allow abortion after 20 weeks, including the United 
States and North Korea. Now, that is horrific. The United States is 
supposed to be an example in regard to global human rights, yet we are 
on par with North Korea when it comes to protecting the unborn.
  Senator Graham's Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act would help 
roll back the practice by prohibiting abortion after 20 weeks post-
fertilization. The reason he is using this 20 weeks is there is one 
agreement that no one takes issue with, and that is, babies feel pain 
after that time. Most people say that babies feel pain greater than 
adults do. That is why that 20 weeks was used in the legislation.
  This is another commonsense bill that should not divide us along 
partisan lines. A baby is a baby whether in or outside the womb, and 
each baby deserves a chance to live as an individual created in the 
image of God.
  There is still much more we need to do to end the abortion-on-demand 
culture, but, thankfully, we have the most pro-life President we have 
had in history. This January, President Trump became the first sitting 
President to attend the annual March for Life. It is a rally in 
Washington. Hundreds of pro-life Oklahomans joined the President and 
tens of thousands of Americans in the march. I had a chance to meet 
many of these Oklahomans, many of them extremely young--as young as in 
high school. They were here marching. They asked me how to respond when 
the radical left attacks their views, and I told them to be kind but 
not to be afraid to voice their opinions. After all, they are right.
  Under President Trump's leadership, we protected the Hyde amendment. 
We reinstated and expanded the Mexico City policy and stripped abortion 
providers like Planned Parenthood from using title X funding for 
abortions. And not just that, but under this President, we have also 
confirmed 193 new judges. That is the largest number of judges in this 
particular timeframe of a new President. There are 193 new judges, the 
second highest total in history at this point in a Presidency.

  These judges actually understand and uphold the Constitution. I 
haven't polled them myself, but I suspect the vast majority or maybe 
all of them are very sensitive to the sanctity of human life.
  The need to stand up for our babies is as important today as it was 
when I made this speech in 1992 and in 1997. I am looking forward to 
building on the successes under this President.
  We have something happening that is unusual now. We have a President 
who is very pro-life, and we also have a lot of new judges whom we 
suspect will be conservative, constitutional judges. We will overcome 
evil with good by upholding and affirming the dignity and inherent 
worth of every human life, and we will seize the opportunity that we 
have today.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Fischer). The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BLUNT. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.