[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 18]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 24297]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   CONFERENCE REPORT ON S. 3, PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTION BAN ACT OF 2003

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                               speech of

                           HON. DENNIS MOORE

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 2, 2003

  Mr. MOORE. I am tired of coming to the House floor and pleading for 
Congress to pass a law that will truly stop late-term abortions and put 
this issue behind us. If not for the extreme politics of this issue, 
Congress could take up and pass today H.R. 809, the Late Term Abortion 
Restriction Act. The legislation, which I have cosponsored, would 
prohibit all late-term abortions, regardless of procedure, with 
exceptions only to protect the life of the mother and to avert serious 
adverse health consequences.
  The House was not allowed to vote on H.R. 809 today, which is a great 
shame, since it goes to the heart of this issue rather than using it as 
a campaign message. H.R. 809 addresses what the American people truly 
want to stop: the termination of a viable fetus during late stages of a 
pregnancy.
  Mr. Speaker, I am here today voting once again on legislation that I 
fully expect to be ruled unconstitutional--once again--by the U.S. 
Supreme Court.
  On June 28, 2000, in the ruling Stenberg v. Carhart, the high court 
struck down a Nebraska ban on so-called ``partial-birth abortion,'' 
ruling that the ban was an unconstitutional violation of Roe vs. Wade 
for two reasons. First, the ban, which is virtually identical to the 
one that will soon be signed into law, was found to be unnecessarily 
broad and without a necessary health exception to protect the well-
being of the mother.
  Despite this ruling, the bill before us today corrects none of the 
flaws that were clearly outlined by the Court. Today's vote is just 
another purely political exercise.
  Like its predecessors, S. 3 does not include an exception to protect 
the health of the woman, despite clear instructions from the Court in 
more than one decision since 1973 that any law restricting abortion 
must include such an exception. This bill, despite cosmetic changes, is 
still unconstitutional.
  I believe a woman has a right to make important decisions regarding 
her body and health. I also believe that the state can and should 
regulate abortion after the point of fetal viability. These two 
principles were set forth in the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court 
decision.
  Today, I will vote against S. 3. I urge my colleagues who truly wish 
to ban post-viability abortions to consider H.R. 809 as a real solution 
to this personal and political issue.

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