[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 4881]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 OBAMA

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, in a recent speech in my home State of 
Pennsylvania, one of the candidates for President referred to the 
possibility of his daughter conceiving a child as a ``punishment.'' In 
referring to his own two daughters, he said, ``I am going to teach them 
first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want 
them punished with a baby. I don't want them punished with an STD.''
  I agree that teens should be taught about values and morals. But I 
find it disturbing that any candidate for high office finds the notion 
of a grandchild to be punishment, a punishment on the same level as a 
sexually transmitted disease. Have we come this far? Has the opposing 
party embraced an ideology that is so opposed to life that a grandchild 
is seen as a punishment?
  In the same speech he said, ``This is an example where good people 
can disagree.'' Well, I see nothing good about believing a grandchild 
is a punishment. Not his most eloquent or uniting speech.

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