[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 116 (Thursday, July 14, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H6613-H6618]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AN UNBORN CHILD IS A HUMAN LIFE
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Correa). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 4, 2021, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly)
is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
General Leave
Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that
all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend
their remarks and include extraneous material on the topic of this
Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
There was no objection.
Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the
2,500 unborn lives we lose to abortion each day who cannot stand for
themselves. That is nearly half a million little boys and little girls
in the United States alone this year. These numbers don't reflect,
though, and take into consideration self-administered chemical
abortions.
Last month, the Supreme Court announced what the pro-life movement
was waiting half a century to hear: Roe v. Wade is overturned. As a
proud pro-life grandfather of 10, I enthusiastically applaud the
Justices for recognizing that this terrible relic from 1973 has no
place in 2022.
Roe was both a legal and moral abomination from the beginning. It
mocked our Nation's Constitution and paved the way for the abortion of
more than 63 million innocent babies in the years since.
The men who first decided Roe invented the right to abortion out of
thin air. By adding an extra line to our Constitution, they ignored one
of the first sentences of the Declaration of Independence, which holds
that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights,
that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
With Roe in the dustbin of history, the abortion question returns to
the democratic arena where it belongs. The most contentious of issues
can now be properly debated and deliberated at both the Federal and
State levels, where, ideally, the most logical and persuasive arguments
can triumph and translate into new law.
Let us have clear eyes to see exactly what science shows us, that
fetuses in the womb are human beings who develop with each passing
second. These innocent children have their own DNA and soon develop
hands, feet, eyes, and lips. They can also feel pain. Just as
importantly, they have the potential to grow up, flourish, and achieve
amazing dreams. Let us have the compassion to give them that chance.
For those of us in elected office who sincerely believe that human
life is a sacred gift from God in need of society's protection, our
position is no
[[Page H6614]]
longer theoretical. We now have a pressing responsibility to examine
how public policy can best be crafted to adequately accomplish our
stated goal.
I believe we already have an answer. When an expectant mother visits
a doctor for an ultrasound, the image of a beating heart is the first
confirmation that a child has been conceived. When someone is involved
in a severe accident, a medic will check right away to see if there is
a pulse to make sure the victim is alive. In short, a heartbeat means a
life.
Now, to legislate consistently with this truth, I introduced the
Heartbeat Protection Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. This
bill would legally prohibit future abortions from being performed if a
preborn child's heartbeat can be detected, with the exception for when
a mother's life is in danger. It is a science-based, humanity-
respecting solution suited to the new landscape in which we find
ourselves.
The post-Roe world is here. As legislators in each State determine
the extent to which they wish to defend life, pro-life Members of
Congress can simultaneously take action to make our beloved country a
place where both children waiting to be born and their mothers are
acknowledged and safeguarded.
Mr. Speaker, tonight, we have a very distinguished group of Members
with us who will also speak on this subject. This doesn't have to turn
into an angry debate. This doesn't have to turn into something that
people get so upset with each other about that they can't even sit down
and talk intelligently about what is going on.
If we cannot see the value of life every day in every single person,
then what have we witnessed this year, just this summer--the horror
that has taken place in our own cities, the loss of life that we have
experienced, the sincere sorrow that this country feels. Yet, we have a
blind eye and a deaf ear to the cries of the unborn.
Do they not deserve that same type of consideration that every human
being deserves?
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. McClain).
Mrs. McCLAIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania
for holding this very serious and very important Special Order.
A few weeks ago, the Supreme Court delivered the greatest victory for
life this country has ever seen when it rightly held that the ability
to kill an unborn child is not a constitutional right and returned the
authority to regulate abortion back to the people and their elected
Representatives.
Sadly, we have seen some elected officials who care more about
appeasing the fringes of their base than defending our institution and
respecting the document that they swore to uphold and defend.
President Biden, for example, a former longtime supporter of letting
the States decide their abortion policies, he sees fit to ignore the
ruling. In a feeble attempt to quiet his far-left critics, he is
seeking to unilaterally expand the ability to kill an unborn child.
I am curious. Does he not know that we have rule of law in this
country with a system actually built on checks and balances? The
President has been in Washington since before Roe, so I think he should
at least have a basic understanding of our government and the rule of
law.
I would say this: Mr. President, these efforts will be in vain. You
must remember the oath that you took and the document you swore to
uphold. Mr. President, the Supreme Court and the Constitution are
clear: You and your bureaucratic underlings at HHS do not have the
authority to unilaterally make law. That is up to the people's
Representatives. Please remember that.
Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Babin).
Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Kelly) for this Special Order.
The Supreme Court's monumental overturn of Roe v. Wade is a milestone
we have been working on for nearly half a century. However, our work
has only just begun.
Since the Court's ruling, pro-abortion extremists have attacked,
vandalized, and even firebombed pregnancy centers and churches across
this country.
Since 2016, pregnancy help centers have saved more than 800,000 lives
by providing critical resources for women and their children. They
should never be forced to operate under the threat of violence from
anarchists who do not value life or our laws.
I have introduced H. Res. 1183, which condemns these attacks and the
domestic terrorists behind them.
We must keep fighting to protect the unborn from those who wish to
extinguish them at all costs.
I am a proud supporter of such an effort, the Heartbeat Protection
Act, which prohibits abortions from the moment a child's heartbeat is
detected. All babies deserve a chance at life, and we must defend that
chance and that life.
My colleagues across the aisle have disturbingly embraced an anti-
life agenda so radical that it sadistically enables the murder of
millions.
This week, our colleagues across the aisle are pushing the abortion
on demand until birth act, a bill that legalizes abortion on demand for
any reason and at any time. They don't care that their pro-abortion
agenda fails to align with the views of the majority of Americans--71
percent, to be exact--who support some limitations on abortion.
We cannot and must not remain silent while the lives of the most
innocent among us are threatened to be terminated.
Mr. Speaker, I will always stand for our unborn and firmly stand
against any efforts to promote abortion.
Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce), another member of the fantastic Pennsylvania
conference group and a strong defender of life.
Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I thank
Representative Mike Kelly for holding this Special Order.
What a pivotal summer we have seen as the United States Supreme
Court, after almost five decades, has overruled the terror of Roe v.
Wade.
We all know that all life is sacred. As a doctor, I swore an oath
first to do no harm, and for me as a doctor, that meant refusing to
ever be involved in performing abortions or any abortion procedures.
Now, as a legislator, it means working each and every day to protect
and stand for human life.
Even after this historic Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v.
Wade, there is still work to be done to protect human life here in the
United States. Our Declaration of Independence states that life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are unalienable rights given to
all of us by our creator, and government is created to protect these
rights. Government is created to protect life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness.
We must all, as legislators, stand for life, and we must continue to
fight for the unborn.
The sanctity of human life is an inherent part of America from our
founding days, and it must be protected today and into the future.
Again, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania, my colleague and my
friend, for doing this Special Order this evening and allowing all of
America to hear how we stand behind the sanctity of human life.
Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from
Louisiana (Mr. Johnson), a member of the Republican leadership group.
Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his
important voice and for hosting this Special Order hour.
The sanctity of human life can never be overemphasized. The gentleman
has done so much work in that arena, and I appreciate him.
I am thankful to our Democratic colleagues tonight, as well, for
skipping their Special Order hour so we can just go right ahead and get
started in prime time. If America were experiencing record inflation,
sky-high gas prices, and uninhibited illegal immigration under our
watch, I would probably yield my time back, as well.
Mr. Speaker, this morning in our Judiciary Committee, the Democrat
majority convened a hearing, and they titled it: ``What's Next: The
Threat to Individual Freedoms in a Post-Roe World.'' It was an
appropriate title, indeed, because the radical abortion advocates are
becoming completely unhinged. They are seeking to trample on
[[Page H6615]]
the individual freedoms of anybody who disagrees with them.
Case in point, over the weekend, the leftwing activist group
ShutDownDC offered $200 bounties for public sightings of our Supreme
Court Justices.
This week, Senator Elizabeth Warren--talk about unhinged--said that
crisis pregnancy centers all across America should be shut down.
There are 2,700 pregnancy centers all around this country in all 50
States. They are supported by over 10,000 licensed medical
professionals. They are annually serving approximately 2 million women
and men. I used to serve as legal counsel for many of these
organizations, and I can testify to their invaluable work.
Why would anybody want to shut down pregnancy centers? They exist to
provide counseling, care, aid, and comfort to struggling mothers who
just want to have their babies. This is just abhorrent.
{time} 1930
Speaking of abhorrent, I suggest to my Democrat friends to study up
tonight--really, I mean, seriously--on the bill that we are going to be
voting on here tomorrow. They call it the Women's Protection Act. It is
not. We call it, more appropriately, abortion on demand until birth
act.
Even though this will be the second time we voted on this bill in
this Congress, I am not sure they know what is in it. I keep hearing my
Democrat colleagues tell us: Oh, no, it is not about abortion on demand
until birth. It absolutely is.
Surely, if they knew that this legislation did this, they wouldn't
support it, right?
The American people certainly don't support it.
To our Democrat colleagues tonight, as I yield back to my friend, I
would just humbly suggest--read your bill. You got a few hours. Read
your legislation. Search your conscience. I hope that you will do the
right thing and vote against that bill tomorrow.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Kelly again for the Special Order hour.
Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa).
I think we came into Congress in 2011 and it has been a pleasure
serving with you. I appreciate your comments tonight on this very
important issue.
Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate Mr. Kelly's leadership that he
is providing for us here tonight and all through the year and all
through your tenure here on this key moral issue.
I am glad also to join the rest of my pro-life colleagues here to
reaffirm our dedication to protecting the innocent unborn.
Indeed, we have cause for celebration, something that has been
corrected, over nearly 50 years and over 50 million lives taken, the
unconstitutional Roe decision has been rightfully overturned and the
power put back to the States to a legislative process, not one decided
by seven of nine on a Supreme Court.
Indeed, now we can have debate and people can be accountable for
their votes. The public can have input on what they think about this
topic. The public is much more educated at this point than they were 50
years ago and what this really means.
Every pregnancy actually results in a human life in that pregnancy.
It is not something else. It is not a blob. It is not a tissue mass. It
isn't going to be some other form of life or an animal--this is a human
life we are talking about, and we value that and we protect that. It is
constitutional to protect life in this country.
Though that decision does not outlaw abortion, it puts the
responsibility and accountability back to legislatures, whether it is
going to be States or here in the U.S. Capitol.
They still pushed forward anyway with a determination to go even
farther than Roe v. Wade--their abortion on demand bill that they are
going to take up tomorrow. It provides for discretionary abortions at
any point in a pregnancy on the basis of a baby's sex, race, or
possible disability.
What are we doing here?
We must stop the left's radical, extreme, immoral abortion agenda and
uphold the value and dignity and potential of every person's life.
We even see now that corporations want to pay for travel for
abortions for their employees. Amazing. They think this is helping
women--$4,000 is possible for your travel.
We have States that also want to be abortion tourism centers. My home
State of California, shamefully, is trying to draw people in, pay for
their stay, pay for their travel--even for illegal immigrants.
How immoral can you be?
Each one of these innocent souls was created by God. We see this
immoral decay of our country, and it is really coming to fruition right
in bright colors in front of all of us.
There is no denying that what we are talking about is a human life.
As early as 5 weeks in the womb babies have a heartbeat; 10 weeks,
arms, legs, fingers and toes, and they can jump and kick even inside
the womb; 15 weeks, fully developed hearts, they can taste, yawn, and
hiccup. Indeed, they are real.
It is not some blob. It is not something to be dismissed. What we are
seeing here with the overturning of this decision, is the
responsibility is back in front of the people to have this debate, and
it is going to be a serious debate with all the States that are going
to take this up, and here in Congress.
My hat is off to all the people that have worked so hard all these
years--those pro-life folks out there--making the case, pleading,
praying, and working so hard to educate about the miracle that is life.
Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from
Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman), my friend and a strong defender of life.
Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, our country was sent on a journey a week
ago to see how we would respond to the Dobbs decision. This decision
challenges all Americans to decide where they will stand on the
abortion issue.
It is particularly a challenge to the churches of this country who
are supposed to provide moral guidance to the country as to where to
stand.
These are decisions that will have to be made by the citizens, in
part, when they vote. Decisions have to be made by State legislators,
district attorneys as to whether they are going to uphold pro-life
laws, and perhaps, most important of all, individual decisions that are
going to have to be made by women or families who are in a situation in
which some people are going to try to persuade them to have an
abortion.
It is interesting when we talk about this to remember that in 1973,
as far as I can determine, no State between California on the West
Coast and New York on the East Coast had entirely open-ended pro-
abortion laws. Nevertheless, at a time where we didn't really have
ultrasounds, every other State ruled that something barbaric was going
on.
You just heard other statistics--we know at 6 weeks a child has a
heartbeat; 7 weeks, feels pain; 10 weeks, jumps if startled, and has
fingers and toes; 15 weeks, sense of taste.
Obviously, anybody who says: What would God want us to do in this
situation realizes a human being has been created by God, and that
human being should be cherished and kept alive.
It was, again, apparently the clergy in 1973, or society as a whole,
did a good job of informing people that something so horrific was
happening in abortion that it should be barred and made illegal. Since
that time, the clergy of this country and the churches of this country
have had 49 years to weigh in with the public and guide them as to how
they should think. We are soon going to find out what a good job they
did or a bad job they did.
In any event, we thank the Supreme Court for reaching the right
decision. Now we put the ball in the court of Americans as a whole,
whether they will respond, recognizing the precious lives that we have
to protect in America, or if they are going down the shoot toward more
of an atheistic view of the world, similar to countries like North
Korea, Red China, countries in which atheism is part of their roots.
The challenge is yours, America--the challenge to the churches.
Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Grothman.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs), a
great consistent defender of life.
Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Kelly for holding this Special
Order and I thank him for his leadership on
[[Page H6616]]
this incredibly important issue, particularly the heartbeat bill.
The heartbeat bill criminalizes an abortion that is performed after
knowingly determining that a fetus has a detectable heartbeat.
The Democrats have the most radical position on abortion. They have
zero regard for life. It is so radical that they want to shut down all
crisis pregnancy centers in America. These centers help pregnant
mothers in need and after the child is born.
Tomorrow, they plan to pass a piece of legislation that will strip
away every protection for children in the womb, the protection for
their mothers and healthcare providers.
It would allow abortion up until birth, and it could be used for sex
selection. If it is signed into law, we will become the most barbarous
country in the world with regard to abortion--more radical than even
China, North Korea, or Vietnam, which have no limitations.
Well, what do we have now?
We have States that could regulate this now, and they do. So it is a
lie to say that you don't have abortions in these States. Here is the
deal. Even in France they regulate it and it is prevented after 14
weeks; Germany after 12 weeks, Greece after 12 weeks, Hungary after 12
weeks, Ireland after 12 weeks, and it goes on and on in the EU.
The United States--if this bill passes tomorrow--will be the most
barbarous to unborn babies in the world. I hope and pray that doesn't
happen. It must not happen in a civilized country like the United
States, I pray it won't.
Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Biggs.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Mann), another
great defender of pro-life and consistent member of pro-life.
Mr. MANN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for
hosting this very important Special Order hour, it is a hard-pressed
thing and there is nothing more important that we can talk about right
now.
I rise tonight to use my voice in defense of the voiceless, the
unborn. Abortion has desensitized our Nation and I pray that the recent
Supreme Court ruling wakes up our country to the horrors that we have
visited upon our country's most vulnerable citizens whose lives have
been snuffed out by abortion.
By 12 weeks of age, a baby has fully formed arms, hands, fingers,
feet, and toes, a fully functional circulatory system and liver, and
the capacity to experience pain--all at the weight of just 1 ounce and
the length of 4 inches.
This is a miracle of God, and rather than stand in awe of it, some
lawmakers would rather disregard it as meaningless. Abortion is not
simply an elected medical procedure like getting your wisdom teeth
taken out. There is another person involved--another eternal soul whom
God created, loves, and sent his son, Jesus, to die for so that they
might live.
The Supreme Court finally rectified their unthinkable wrong from 50
years ago, when the court legislated from the bench with Roe v. Wade
and declared abortion a constitutional right grounded in a woman's
right to privacy--a jurisprudential move that was shaky, biased, and
flat wrong.
The United States is one of only eight countries in the world that
permit abortion after 20 weeks of gestation, which means that 95
percent of the countries on Earth think that we are dead wrong on
abortion. Now, as the Supreme Court has finally handed this decision
back to the States, Americans will get to decide for themselves how
abortion should be regulated.
It is easy to get caught up in the legislative language and forget
that the numbers involved in the abortion issue are actual human
beings. In the United States, 63.4 million people--Americans--have died
from abortion over the last 50 years.
To put that number into context, that is roughly the entire
population of the Midwest, which is estimated at 65 million people.
Think about that.
Would our country notice if the collective populations of Kansas,
Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska,
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin were wiped out
overnight? Would they miss these people?
That is the impact that abortion has had over the past 50 years.
I believe that life begins at conception, which is why I support
adoptions, foster care, and crisis pregnancy centers that work
tirelessly to care for mothers and their babies.
I take this moment to thank the pro-life movement at large in
American and I am standing with you and thanking God that Roe v. Wade
has finally been overturned.
Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Gohmert), somebody who has been a friend of mine since way
back in 2011, and who has never stopped fighting for life since he got
here.
Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for having and hosting
this time.
During biblical times, we read about sacrifices of babies to Moloch
and to Baal.
How could that happen? How could you allow a child--a tiny baby--to
suffer like that? It goes on.
I know there is so much said, but let's simplify it. If you think
that it is not a child, see a preemie. It doesn't have to be your own
premature child like ours was. Let that little child grab your finger
and hold on for dear life. Understand what we have heard about here--
what a late-term abortion is that so many in this body embrace.
{time} 1945
That little hand is attached to an arm that is attached to a body,
and it is a beautiful child. The late-term abortionist, as he has
explained, will rip off--he reaches in with a clamp, clamps on to the
arm, linear things, and rips off four linear things from the body and
then reaches in and crushes the skull and rips the skull off of the
child.
That is not progress for civilization. That is horrendous.
Let a premature child hold your finger, Mr. Speaker, and see what the
monitors do--as I have--and you will never ever want to know of a child
like that being broken, pulled, and torn apart. Let's progress beyond
the brutality.
Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from
the great State of Georgia (Mr. Carter), who is another great defender
of life.
We have been defending life for so long with such great patience and
such great prayer. It has always been done in a peaceful manner.
Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for
yielding.
Mr. Speaker, in the 1970s when Roe v. Wade was decided, ultrasound
technology was in its infancy. The black and white photos that
expectant parents proudly display on their refrigerators and in social
media posts today weren't widely available back then. The general
public could not see the life that was being created, and the medical
community had no clear consensus on when life began.
I have been blessed with many beautiful grandchildren, and I remember
the warmth and love I felt for them the second I saw those 15-week
ultrasound photos. I am beyond grateful. In fact, it is an answer to
many prayers that our Supreme Court has finally made a decision and has
overturned the catastrophic decision that was Roe v. Wade.
What the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision does
is give the power back to the States where it belongs, allowing them to
decide how they want to approach abortion law. But it doesn't stop
here. We must now refocus our attention in a post-Roe world, to
providing aid to our mothers.
Now, this is very important, Mr. Speaker. The Biden administration
has recently come out targeting pharmacists such as myself, trying to
force them to distribute abortion medication at the risk of civil
rights violations. When I was a member of the Georgia State
legislature, I sponsored legislation to allow pharmacists to act in the
best interest of their patient.
President Biden is using pharmacists as political pawns for his pro-
abortion agenda. That is truly despicable. This is not the kind of
leadership that should be coming out of the White House.
Life is the most fundamental human right; we must continue to work to
help make it the best that it can be.
Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from
the great State of Georgia (Mr. Allen). Again, I thank the
Representative for
[[Page H6617]]
being with us tonight. He is a great defender of life.
Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, Mike Kelly of
Pennsylvania, for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I believe everyone has the dignity, value, and
potential. There is no right more fundamental than the right to life.
Our Founders engraved it in the Constitution. We are made in God's
image, and we carry in our hearts that spark of creation that served as
the bedrock upon which our country was founded.
Documents like the Constitution do not grant rights, they protect
rights. The Dobbs v. Jackson decision will go down in history not only
as the end of one era but the dawn of another more hopeful one.
The decision that the Court made was based on the 14th Amendment and
the civil rights of a woman and her reproductive rights. The decision
was controversial. It is not in the Constitution, and it was a terrible
decision. It was decided based on the civil rights of the mother.
We know that the child has a heartbeat in 6 weeks and can feel pain
at 15 weeks which was the Mississippi law that it was contested on. And
we know a child born at 24 weeks will survive.
My question is: When does that child enjoy the same rights under the
14th Amendment as the mother?
Is it at conception?
Is it at 6 weeks, the heartbeat, which Georgia law is based on?
Or is it the Mississippi law or when that child is born maybe
prematurely at 24 weeks?
This is God's Word. God told Jeremiah that He knew him before He
webbed him in the womb.
What my colleagues are proposing tomorrow on the House floor goes far
beyond Roe. This legislation, if codified into law, would require
healthcare providers at the command of the mother to rip a full-term
baby from the womb while the mother is in labor; if the baby likely
survives, orders the child to be killed.
This is unconscionable and barbaric and must be stopped. Only eight
nations, as has been said earlier, allow this barbaric practice; two of
them are North Korea and China. We are not in good company here.
I cry out to my colleagues to stop this insanity. Let us all enjoy
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness--even the defenseless
unborn.
Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Representative
for his remarks. Tomorrow is a big day for all of us.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of
Mississippi (Mr. Guest). As we all ponder tonight what tomorrow will
bring, I thank Mr. Guest for being with us and defending life in every
step of the way.
Mr. GUEST. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the life of the
unborn and in support of pro-life legislation like the Heartbeat
Protection Act, a commonsense bill that would save an untold number of
unborn children. I encourage my colleagues to look at the evidence that
supports the pro-life movement.
I know that Scripture supports life. Jeremiah 1:5 tells us:
Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you
were born, I set you apart.
We also know that science supports life. Science now proves that
unborn children can feel pain starting at 15 weeks or earlier. With
enhanced ultrasound technology we see children in the womb moving and
kicking. With new technology, doctors can even detect the beating sound
of a child's heart.
Our Court supports life with the recent decision by the Court to
support Dobbs v. Jackson, which is a case that originated in the great
State of Mississippi, my home State, we now have a legal system that
has opened the door for a wave of pro-life support.
The American people also support life. Almost two out of every three
Americans support restrictions on abortion. Twenty-one States have
already implemented laws to protect the lives of unborn children. That
will now grow even further with nine more States considering their own
pro-life legislation in the coming months.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support Scripture, science, our
legal systems, our States, the American people, and the lives of our
unborn children by supporting the pro-life movement.
Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Representative
for his comments.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of
Tennessee (Mr. Rose).
Mr. ROSE. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Kelly for sponsoring
this Special Order tonight.
Mr. Speaker, on Friday of last week, President Biden signed an
executive order undermining democratically passed State laws that limit
abortions. His executive order directs the Department of Health and
Human Services to protect access to life-ending abortions including the
dangerous and deadly chemical abortion pill. This goes directly against
the Supreme Court's recent decision that allows the people through
their elected Representatives to decide on this issue for themselves at
the many States.
Unfortunately, the President caved to the extremists who support
abortion up until the moment of birth and is now going against his oath
of office by directly undermining the law of the land. Meanwhile,
pregnancy centers, which provide compassionate support to pregnant
mothers, and churches are under attack by the left.
Where is the executive order protecting these organizations and
institutions?
In America, the first inalienable right is the right to be born--the
right to life. Countless lives have been lost to abortion since Roe
became law. Now is our time to right these wrongs and stand for life.
The President has a constitutional duty to uphold the law of the land,
not undermine it.
Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate Representative
Rose's being here tonight.
Mr. Speaker, I will use some of the time we have remaining. I know
that we always want to debate this proposed legislation about what is
good about it and what is bad about it. Oftentimes, we use languages to
actually disguise what it is that we are actually talking about.
Tomorrow as we will debate and vote on the Women's Health Protection
Act, abortion is the only medical procedure where two people go into
the doctor's office and only one comes out alive. I know that in this
people's House we have had heavy debate, and I know that both sides are
divided on it and sometimes the language gets out of hand. It gets too
hateful.
My colleagues on the other side have often said to me:
Look, we believe like you believe. We believe that life is
sacred. We believe that every--every--child has a chance, and
that unborn child is waiting to be born and waiting to
experience all that life has to offer. But, you see, the
Supreme Court took that option away from me. My personal
preference would be life, but the Supreme Court took that
option away from me.
So tomorrow, as we debate the Women's Health Protection Act and we
hear a lot of discussion that goes back and forth and defending and
then tearing apart and people adding to and subtracting from, we come
to a lot of different things.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to share with you that last weekend while we
were home, I had the opportunity to visit in Erie, Pennsylvania, in the
district that I represent, I visited a women's care center. This is a
center where too often they are described as people who are trying to
discourage pregnant mothers from actually giving birth. They are trying
to lead them into a different direction.
I just want to say this: the people who man these agencies give up a
day of their life to come in and help counsel women who are going
probably through some of the most difficult times of their life. Maybe
it is not the right time for them to have that child. Maybe there is a
financial problem, and it is just not right right now.
Maybe there is something else that stands in their way, and they are
saying: Well, I am so alone. I am by myself. I don't know how I would
handle this.
To those ladies who go through that, I would say that there are
options available to you. The adoption option is there. We have
thousands upon thousands of people who would love to adopt a child and
to give it a loving home and to help nurture it as it goes through its
lifecycles. We also have foster care that is available.
I know that I have talked to too many women who have experienced the
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anguish of going through an abortion and then later on thinking that
they made the biggest mistake of their life and holding that guilt
feeling in their life.
I would just like to suggest that we are a very forgiving society. We
are a people who say:
Look, don't let that ruin your life. Don't let that ruin
your life. There is forgiveness, there is grace, and there is
mercy.
We know that. But as we stand here tonight in the people's House--in
the people's House--how did we ever get to this point?
How did we ever in the United States of America decide that all life
is not precious?
I mentioned earlier some of the horrific instances that have taken
place just in the last few weeks, in the last few months, and in the
last few years.
{time} 2000
I know that, on Wednesdays, a lot of Representatives wear red, and
that is to bring about the remembrance of the Boko Haram and the little
girls who were kidnapped and never returned. It is always about ``we
need to get our girls back.''
We have such open hearts, and we have such understanding in some
cases. Then in other cases, we just close our eyes. We plug our ears.
We say: No, no. You don't understand. In this situation, the conception
of that child was not what we were looking for. That is not what we
wanted, but it happened, and now we have a problem. What are we going
to do with this little girl or this little boy?
I know people look away. They look to the sky, and they look to the
walls, and they look to the floor, and they say: Look, my personal
preference would be--but the Supreme Court made a decision. The Supreme
Court has just righted a very wrong decision.
I hope that, at some point, the greatest defender of life in the
history of the world, the greatest defender of liberty and freedom in
the history of the world, the United States of America, would take a
look at the course and the direction it has been taking for the last 50
years.
Millions upon millions upon millions of little boys and little girls
have been denied the right to life. Where in our history did we ever
come up with this idea that abortion is okay?
Look, I said earlier, I understand there are times in your life--I
can just tell you this: As a father of four and a grandfather of 10,
between our firstborn child and our second-born child, there was a
pregnancy that took place. It was an ectopic pregnancy. My wife has
wondered forever what that child would have been like had she gone full
term.
I want to take a moment, Mr. Speaker, as we close now. In this
building, in this room, in this town, tomorrow, we will have a chance
to look at what it is we are doing and where we are going. I would just
ask it all to be prayerful, peaceful, and understand that this is an
issue that we can no longer close our eyes to.
If it is your personal preference, if it is something that you think
is right for life, then, please, walk away from any political bend that
you may have and look at the policies.
We are here for the best interests of the United States and the best
interests of our American citizens.
Mr. Speaker, I thank you so much for your indulgence. I yield back
the balance of my time.
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