[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6127]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING POPE JOHN PAUL II

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, last week I was blessed to travel with 
a group of my colleagues to Rome to attend the funeral mass of his 
Holiness, Pope John Paul II, one of the greatest defenders of human 
life the world has ever known.

                              {time}  1945

  Pope John Paul II was a man of profound holiness, profound peace, and 
profound love. He not only served the Catholic Church as the Vicar of 
Christ on Earth, but also reached out and touched people of all faiths 
as he fought valiantly to liberate the oppressed, especially in his 
native Eastern Europe where he contributed significantly to the fall of 
communism.
  Of all of his accomplishments, I am most appreciative of his 
unwavering commitments to the defense and protection of all human life, 
especially the most defenseless, the unborn.
  The Pope came to Miami in September of 1987. I had just given birth 
to my youngest daughter, Patricia Marie, and so I wanted to be present 
to hear and see him at Tropical Park, which is located in my old State 
senate district, but the doctors told me I could not attend. However, 
as I watched on TV, I remember thinking how fitting it was that I would 
be holding my newborn baby in my arms while watching the staunchest 
defender of human life praying and saying mass in my hometown. It was a 
feeling I have never and I shall never forget.
  The Holy Father can never imagine how he touched, in a most profound 
way, all those who heard and saw him wherever he traveled with his 
goodness and fierce protection for the sanctity of life.
  In his letter, The Gospel of Life, John Paul II vigorously reaffirmed 
the value of human life and at the same time presents a pressing appeal 
addressed to each and every person to respect, protect, love and serve 
life, every human life.
  He writes, ``Even in the midst of difficulties and uncertainties, 
every person sincerely open to truth and goodness can, by the light of 
reason and the hidden action of grace, come to recognize in the natural 
law the sacred value of human life from its very beginning until its 
end and can affirm the right of every human being to have this primary 
good respected to the highest degree.
  ``Upon the recognition of this right,'' he continued, ``every human 
community and the political community itself are founded.''
  And as a wife and as a mother of two teenage daughters, I also seek 
to defend and protect the sanctity of an innocent human life; and to 
that end I have introduced the bill, House Resolution 748, the Child 
Interstate Abortion Notification Act, CIANA, which currently has 127 
cosponsors and which will be marked up in the House Committee on the 
Judiciary tomorrow.
  This legislation makes it a Federal offense to knowingly transport a 
minor across a State line with the intent that she obtain an abortion 
in circumvention of a State's parental consent or parental notification 
law. CIANA also requires that a parent or, if necessary, a legal 
guardian be notified pursuant to a default Federal parental 
notification rule when a minor crosses State lines to obtain an 
abortion unless one of several carefully drawn exceptions are met.
  A minor who is forbidden to drink alcohol, to stay out past a certain 
hour or to get her ears pierced without a parental consent is certainly 
not prepared to make a life-altering, hazardous and potentially fatal 
decision such as an abortion without the consultation or consent of at 
least one parent.
  My legislation will close a loophole that allows adults not only help 
minors break States' laws by obtaining an abortion without parental 
consent but also contributes to ending the life of an innocent child.
  I am hopeful that in this 109th session of Congress we will be 
successful in securing the rights of parents. As an ardent advocate for 
human rights for all, especially those suffering political and 
religious persecution, I join our Holy Father in his desire to see a 
world where all may live and work together in a spirit of peace, mutual 
respect and solidarity and where the sanctity of human life is 
preserved at each and every level.

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