[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

[[Page H6618]]

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.

                          ____________________