[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 80 (Wednesday, May 11, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H4802]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                            AND STILL I RISE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Green) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, and still I rise. And I rise 
today, Madam Speaker, to defend a woman's right to choose, to defend 
the law of the land, to defend Roe v. Wade. And I rise to do so because 
it is the woman's choice, not the man's.
  I happen to be a male. It is not my choice. I defend a woman's right 
to make that choice, whatever it may be, and Roe v. Wade has to be a 
part of it, or the right to choose should be a part of it.
  So, today, I would like to share a brief vignette to make my point. 
Let us assume that you are a person of means. You have resources, and 
you are adamantly, vehemently, totally, and absolutely opposed to 
abortion.
  Let us assume that abortion is banned across the land, and let us 
assume that your daughter is raped--ban on abortion, your daughter is 
raped. You are vehemently, adamantly, totally, and completely opposed 
to abortion.
  But you have the right to change your mind, and you have the right to 
use your resources to go to some distant place on vacation, take a road 
trip, and come back after you have exercised your right to choose, or 
your daughter has exercised her right to choose.
  No woman who is raped should be forced to bear the child of the 
rapist. Have we no sense of what a woman goes through?
  We should not allow ourselves to be put in a position where poor 
women without resources will not have the opportunity to exercise the 
right that wealthier, resourced persons will exercise.
  So, I support maintaining the right to choose, and I support 
maintaining peaceful protest. I believe that John Kennedy was right 
when he proclaimed: ``Those who make peaceful revolution impossible 
will make violent revolution inevitable.''
  I don't like having people protest me as I leave the plane. I don't 
enjoy having people protest as I walk into supermarkets. But I accept 
it because I understand that this is a means by which they can express 
themselves without having to express themselves by more violent means.
  John Kennedy is the person who said it: ``Those who make peaceful 
revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.''
  Let's accept peaceful protest. I do not accept any violence in 
protest. But peaceful protest, as much as it may disturb me, and as 
much as I may dislike it, I accept it because I understand what the 
alternative is.

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