[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 10 (Thursday, January 18, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S190-S191]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             MARCH FOR LIFE

  Mr. THUNE. Madam President, as they have for 50 years now--in rain, 
in cold, sunshine and snow--pro-life Americans will take to the streets 
of Washington, DC, tomorrow to march for life. They come by the tens of 
thousands from all across the country, in buses, in cars, and on 
planes. Young people--so many young people--and Americans of every age, 
from every walk of life, come to Washington, DC, for a simple reason: 
to testify to the truth enshrined in our declaration, that all men and 
women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with 
certain inalienable rights, and among those are the right to life, to 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
  And that right to life applies to every person, not just those the 
pro-abortion movement thinks should be allowed to be born--every 
person, born and unborn.
  At some level, I think everyone knows the truth of what abortion is: 
the killing of an innocent human being. The pro-abortion movement and 
the Democratic Party--unfortunately, one and the same these days--have 
tried to obscure this truth. They do everything they can to avoid 
talking about the reality of the issue. But I think even they are well 
aware that when we are talking about abortion, we are talking about the 
killing of a human being.
  I think they are well aware that a 7-pound unborn baby is just as 
human and just as worthy of life as a 7-pound baby who has already been 
born. But although I think everyone knows the reality of the issue, it 
can be easy to ignore or forget the fact that every year in this 
country, hundreds of thousands of babies are being killed by abortion.
  And when I say ``hundreds of thousands,'' I mean hundreds of 
thousands. The pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute reports that ``In the 
first 10 months of 2023, there were an estimated 878,000 abortions in 
the formal U.S. healthcare system''--878,000. To put that number in 
perspective, 878,000 is more than the entire population of some U.S. 
States. That is a lot of lives lost, a lot of love lost; and we cannot 
afford to forget that this is happening.

  And, every year, the March for Life provides us with the powerful 
reminder. The March for Life is a vast assembly of Pro-lifers and, as I 
said, a powerful witness.
  But it is just one facet of the pro-life movement. An even bigger 
work, an even bigger focus, I might add, of the pro-life movement is 
offering hope and help to moms in need. That goes on every day in every 
State around the country at pregnancy resource centers, at maternity 
homes, where moms have access to the resources they need to care for 
their babies and to get on their feet--at churches, on college 
campuses, and in many other places. Supporting moms and babies is what 
the pro-life movement does, and it is what it will continue to do no 
matter how many obstacles are placed in its way.
  Madam President, I am committed to doing everything I can in 
Washington to protect babies and to support the work of the pro-life 
movement, whether that is opposing pro-abortion rules from the 
administration or working to advance legislation like my Born-Alive 
Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would require that babies born 
alive during a botched abortion be granted the same medical care as any 
other baby would be.
  I am grateful to all of my colleagues who stand up for life here in 
Congress and the countless Americans who spend each day standing up for 
moms and their babies.
  Today, I want to especially thank all of those who will march through 
the streets of Washington tomorrow to remind us all of the reality of 
abortion and the importance of defending the right to life.
  Given the grim reality of abortion, it would be no surprise if the 
mood at the March for Life each year were somber. But I am always 
struck by the hope and enthusiasm that emanates from so many of the 
marchers, especially the young people. I think it is because the 
marchers know that no matter how long and how hard the battle, at the 
end of the day, life will win.
  I firmly believe that, and I look forward to the day when we fully 
live up to our founding principles and ensure that the right to life of 
every American, born and unborn, is respected.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. LANKFORD. Madam President, it is January. It is cold outside. In 
fact, it is snowing outside here in Washington, DC, today and tomorrow. 
It is late January, which means what it has meant for the last five 
decades: Pro-life Americans will gather by the hundreds of thousands in 
Washington, DC, and will converge on this city to say: We think every 
child is valuable.
  Now, I have to tell you, every march I have been to--and I have been 
to a lot--they are all cold. They don't all have snow. This one will, 
but it won't dampen the spirits for a lot of students, leaders, moms, 
dads, and little ones who will come just to be able to say: We are in 
America, and we think life is valuable. We think children are precious. 
We think this is an important issue.
  We haven't always had a March for Life. We had one for 50 years, 
actually. Interestingly enough, when Nellie Gray and some other pro-
life leaders organized the March for Life starting after 1973--after 
the Roe v. Wade decision--they were recognizing an anomaly in American 
law.
  Our Nation has been a nation almost 250 years, but abortion was only 
mandated in every State and every place just during that short time 
period under Roe v. Wade. For the other two centuries of our Nation, 
this issue about the value of life was decided in every State and among 
the people.
  That is what has occurred again. We still have abortion in America. 
It is happening all over the country. But individuals are rising up and 
saying: Our State, our leaders, and even this Congress needs to have a 
conversation about when is a child a child and when does a child become 
valuable in our culture and when is a child disposable in our culture, 
and which child can be disposed of and which child is celebrated.
  I love this side-by-side picture here. I don't know if you can really 
see it. This is an ultrasound that is actually happening in the womb, 
with this baby in this position with arms up over her head.
  And a baby sleeps like that. In fact, both of my daughters often 
slept like that. We called that the ``touchdown position,'' when their 
hands were raised over their head. It is funny to be able to see this 
picture and ultrasound of this child in the womb sleeping just like the 
same way they would later sleep in the crib.
  Do you know why? Because there is no difference between these two 
babies. That is a baby then, and that is a baby then. The only 
difference is time. The only difference between myself right now and 
myself 9 months ago was time--9 months of time. The only difference 
between this child in the womb and that child lying in a crib is just a 
little bit of time.
  There are literally millions of Americans who have this very simple 
perspective. We should--as the march says this year--march with every 
woman, for every child, and we should stand up for those individuals 
and to be able to honor those families. We march in support of 
pregnancy resource centers, those folks who are walking with women 
through very difficult decisions and through very hard moments.

  There was a recent study done on pregnancy resource centers in just 
2022 that found that $359 million were donated to individuals through 
pregnancy resource centers all over the country. Those are diapers and 
wipes. Those are baby formulas. That is car seats. That is free 
ultrasounds. That is free pregnancy tests. That is after-abortion 
support. And, sometimes, it is strollers and clothes.
  A vast majority of those individuals who work at these pregnancy 
resource centers are heroes, volunteers who give their time. They have 
full-time jobs, tasks with families and in other places, but they value 
every single child, even the children they don't know and love. They 
would donate their time and their money and their effort just to be 
able to say that child is just as valuable as that child; and that, in 
America, we

[[Page S191]]

shouldn't pick and choose which child is precious and which child is 
disposable. We should just say we all are.
  This administration has been exceptionally aggressive on taking on 
this issue of life, pushing back from the very beginning. For instance, 
there is a nurse who was in the process of dealing with her employer 
because this nurse had informed the hospital that she worked with that 
she was personally opposed to abortion--morally, personally opposed to 
abortion. She was told: You won't have to participate in abortion. You 
have a conscience-right protection under U.S. law that individuals 
can't be compelled to have an abortion.
  She worked at this hospital until one day she had a doctor and a 
nurse who actually compelled her to participate in an abortion or she 
would lose her job. She was not allowed to be able to have her 
conscience without losing her job.
  That was in the course of litigation. In the earliest days of the 
Biden administration, that litigation was just dismissed, saying: We 
understand. It is Federal law that you should have conscience 
protections. But we don't agree with your opinion, and so you don't get 
conscience protections, only people we agree with.
  That is wrong.
  In my State, funding from this administration was cut off in my State 
for AIDS testing, for screenings, for breast cancer evaluations. That 
money was Federal dollars allocated to my State to help in healthcare 
in rural communities. That money was cut off by this administration. Do 
you want to know why? Because our State would not promote abortion. And 
the determination was made that you won't get Federal assistance for 
AIDS testing or for breast cancer screening or for assistance in your 
county health departments. We are going to cut your funds off for that 
if your State chooses not to promote abortion.
  Our State stepped up and said: We believe every child is valuable--
both of those kids--and we will find a way to do it on our own.
  In the meantime, this administration is cutting off funds for AIDS 
testing because they don't like people in our State, our opinion about 
the value of life. This administration has just proposed to cut off 
temporary assistance for needy families to pro-life centers. As I 
mentioned before, some of these pregnancy resource centers give out 
food, clothing, and assistance. They have been a part of the TANF 
Program for years and years and years.
  This administration proposed to be able to cut them off to say: If 
you assist families but also don't promote abortion, you can't actually 
assist families. You are not one of us.
  They are literally telling to those Americans that you don't agree 
with the administration. So you don't count because you are actually 
trying to protect life. We won't help you do that.
  This administration is currently trying to use the Emergency Medical 
Treatment and Labor Act to force doctors to provide abortions, even 
though that law that they are using specifically and explicitly 
protects pregnant moms and unborn children. But they are currently 
trying to be able to twist it the other way.
  This administration is currently fighting an issue on chemical 
abortions--chemical abortions that have been around for years. That is 
a two-drug cocktail where the first drug actually disconnects the child 
from the connection in the womb and starves them. The second pill 
causes that delivery. It causes the contraction of the uterus, and they 
have an abortion at home. It is a do-it-yourself kit for at home.
  For years, that has been a very specific issue. There was only a 
certain specific time period that you could actually use that drug 
cocktail, knowing that if the child was just a few weeks older, it 
causes a real danger to the mom. Or if this was an ectopic pregnancy, 
it could actually take the life of that mom. Or if the mom has the 
wrong blood type, it could cause the mom not to be able to have 
children in the future.
  In the past, a physician would have to connect with that mom before 
they would get this drug cocktail. This administration has continued to 
fight to say: No, they don't need to see a physician. They can just get 
it mailed to them.
  And in a situation with an ectopic pregnancy, literally, the side 
effects from having the do-it-yourself abortion at home may look 
similar to the side effects of an ectopic pregnancy, but there is no 
way to know unless you get that ultrasound. And they will never know.
  Listen, I am fully aware that this administration is aggressive about 
trying to provide more abortions in the country. Why would they put 
women's lives at risk to be able to make it more convenient to be able 
to have an abortion?
  It is January. We are talking about this issue of abortion because 
the March for Life is happening. But there are literally millions of 
Americans all around the country who are going to continue to be able 
to talk about this issue of life in every way that they can because 
they look at these two children--literally, a few weeks apart--and they 
think both of them are valuable. I don't think that is a radical 
concept.
  We live in a culture in America that is committed to tolerance, 
acceptance, and diversity, but it seems to be so for every area except 
for that child. That child doesn't get to have tolerance, acceptance, 
and be welcomed into a culture. That child is sometimes determined to 
be disposable.
  I want to say to the millions of Americans who see both of these kids 
and who think both of them are valuable: Continue to be able to love 
people, to be able to walk alongside those moms, to be able to 
encourage in every way that you can because, as a culture, as we keep 
talking about this issue, more and more people will look at these two 
pictures and will say: You are right. They both look like children to 
me. Why don't we treat them equal?
  That is what we should be all about as a country, and that is why we 
march every cold January.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.

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