[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 486-492]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      ACCEPTABLE BIGOTRY: PREJUDICE AGAINST THE CHILD IN THE WOMB

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 5, 2011, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, it is my distinct privilege to 
yield to Martha Roby, a new Member who was just elected. And she's an 
outstanding pro-life woman, a Member of Congress. And we're just so 
pleased to have her in the caucus.
  Mrs. ROBY. Mr. Speaker, 2 weeks ago I took part in a reading of the 
U.S. Constitution in this Chamber. It was a fitting tribute to the 
great social contract between the American people and our government.
  The Constitution is an exceptional document, and we have all taken an 
oath to defend it, and defend it we must. Too often, our Constitution 
is under attack by the liberal activist movement that seeks to achieve 
through the courts that which they cannot achieve at the ballot box.
  On the front line are the unelected judges that disregard the words 
and meaning of the Constitution in favor of their own political and 
social views. They decide cases not on the law and the facts but on the 
outcome that they alone believe to be the best policy. Roe v. Wade is 
an example of this sort of judicial activism at its worst. Together 
with other cases, the Roe court created a fundamental right to abortion 
even though a simple reading of the Constitution reveals no such right. 
As a result, unimaginable harm has occurred.
  In the short time that I have talked tonight, another baby has been 
aborted. That equals one abortion every 2 minutes, 3,300 abortions a 
day, or 1.2 million abortions a year.
  Mr. Speaker, I am unapologetically pro-life. I believe that the 
miracle of human life begins at conception. I believe that we are 
fearfully and wonderfully made, ``knit together'' by God in our 
mother's womb. I believe that every American is entitled to basic human 
rights. And I believe that I have an obligation to do everything I can 
to fight for the unborn, to prevent taxpayer money from funding 
abortions, and to protect our democratic system from the encroachment 
of an all-powerful judiciary.
  Let us use this 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade as an occasion to 
reaffirm our beliefs and redirect ourselves to that cause.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I do thank the gentlelady for her very 
powerful and eloquent statement in defense of the innocent unborn 
child.
  Mr. Speaker, earlier today, an abortionist in Philadelphia, Dr. 
Kermit Gosnell, was arrested and charged in the death of a mother and 
seven babies who were born alive but then killed by severing their 
spinal cords with a pair of scissors.

                              {time}  2010

  According to the CBS TV affiliate in Philadelphia, the district 
attorney said that in 1 year alone, Dr. Gosnell made approximately $1.8 
million performing abortions.
  The abortion industry, Mr. Speaker, is a multibillion dollar 
business. Planned Parenthood boasts that in 2008 alone, their 
abortionists killed over 324,000 babies, while raking in approximately 
$1 billion in fees and local, State, and Federal Government subsidies. 
The ugly truth is that abortionists often get filthy rich not by 
healing or nurturing or curing, but by dismembering and decapitating 
the fragile bodies of unborn children, by starving the child in the 
womb with lethal agents like RU486 or by other means of chemical 
poisoning. The ugly truth is that women are victimized by abortion, 
wounded and hurt physically, psychologically, and emotionally. Women 
deserve better than abortion.
  The only thing the multibillion dollar abortion industry has produced 
in America and worldwide is victims, wounded women and over 52 million 
dead babies in the United States alone since 1973, more than six times 
the entire population of my home State of New Jersey. The multibillion 
dollar abortion industry systematically dehumanizes the weakest and 
most vulnerable among us with catchy slogans, slick advertising, clever 
marketing, and very aggressive lobbying, particularly here.
  They have made the unacceptable--to be prejudiced and bigoted against 
a child in the womb--acceptable to some. This acceptable bigotry has 
been promoted for decades, despite breathtaking advances in fetal 
medicine, including microsurgery, underscoring the fact that an unborn 
child is a patient in need of care, diagnosis and care, just like 
anyone else, and despite the amazing window to the womb, ultrasound 
imaging.
  In 1976, Dr. Willard Cates and David Grimes, then with the Centers 
for Disease Control in Atlanta, presented a paper to a Planned 
Parenthood meeting entitled, and I quote this directly, ``Abortion as a 
Treatment for Unintended Pregnancy: The Number Two Sexually Transmitted 
Disease.'' These two abortion doctors reduced the child in the womb to 
a disease, to a parasite, to something that had to be vanquished. As 
far as I know, no one at Planned Parenthood objected to this 
dehumanizing language and obvious bigotry towards children.
  Mr. Speaker, the evidence of significant harm to women who abort 
increases each and every year. Abortion hurts women's health and puts 
future children subsequently born to women who abort at significant 
risk. At least 102 studies show significant psychological harm, major 
depression, and elevated suicide risk in women who abort. The Times of 
London reported that senior psychiatrists ``say that new evidence has 
uncovered a clear link between abortion and mental illness in women 
with no previous history of psychological problems.'' They found that 
``women who have had abortions have twice the level of psychological 
problems and three times the level of depression as women who have 
given birth or who have never been pregnant.''
  In 2006, a comprehensive New Zealand study found that almost 80 
percent of the 15- to 18-year-olds who had abortions displayed symptoms 
of major depression as compared to 31 percent of their peers. The study 
also found that 27 percent of the 21- to 25-year-olds who had abortions 
had suicidal idealizations compared to 8 percent of those who did not 
have an abortion.
  Abortion isn't safe for subsequent children born to women who have 
had an abortion. And this fact is so underappreciated in the United 
States, and really around the world. At least 113 studies show a 
significant association between abortion and subsequent premature 
births. One study by researchers Shah and Zoe showed a 36 percent 
increased risk for preterm births after one abortion, and a staggering 
93 percent increased risk after two. Same goes for low birth weight, 
similar percentages.
  So what does this mean for the children? Preterm birth is the leading 
cause of infant mortality in the industrialized world after congenital 
anomalies. Preterm infants have a greater risk of suffering chronic 
lung disease, sensory deficits, cerebral palsy, cognitive impairments, 
and behavioral problems. Low birth weight is similarly associated with 
neonatal mortality and morbidity. Abortion causes great harm to 
children, to mothers.
  Dr. Alveda King, niece of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, who we 
honored just this past Monday, has joined the growing coalition of 
women who deeply regret their abortions, and are, as they call 
themselves, Silent No More. Out of deep personal pain and compassion 
for others, Dr. King, who has had two abortions herself, and the other 
women of Silent No More challenge us to respect, protect, and tangibly 
love both the mother and the child. The women of Silent No More give 
post-abortive women a safe place to grieve and a road map to 
reconciliation.
  This week, with the full and unequivocal support of Speaker Boehner 
and Majority Leader Cantor, more than 125 Members and I will introduce 
the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, a government-wide prohibition 
on taxpayer subsidization for abortion and conscience protections with 
durable remedies.

[[Page 487]]

  Abortion is not health care. We know that. And polls show that 
taxpayers strongly oppose publicly funded abortion, 67 percent, 
according to a recent university poll. Our new bill is designed to 
permanently end any U.S. Government financial support for abortion, 
whether it be direct funding, or by tax credits, or by any other 
subsidy.
  Regarding conscience rights, last year Cathy DeCarlo, a nurse at 
Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, was compelled, despite her strong 
moral and religious objections, to assist in a grisly D&E abortion, 
which has been described by the U.S. Supreme Court as a procedure where 
the doctors use forceps to literally tear apart the unborn child. The 
child often feels pain. It's done later in pregnancy. D&E is a gruesome 
act of child abuse.
  Ms. DeCarlo sued, asserting her right to conscience had been violated 
under existing Federal law, namely, the Church amendment. Her case was 
dismissed, however, due to the lack of prescribed remedies. The No 
Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act protects conscience rights of 
individuals and institutions, entities as we call them, by empowering 
the courts with the authority to prevent and redress actual or 
threatened violations of conscience.
  Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to yield to my good friend and colleague 
Doug Lamborn, who has been a great defender of life.
  Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the leadership of my friend 
and colleague, Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey. He is such a 
leader in this vital area of life. All who are pro-life in Congress 
look up to him.
  Mr. Speaker, my heart breaks when I think about the children who are 
now a part of a missing generation, a generation whose contributions to 
society we will never fully know, a generation whose lives could have 
inspired their families, Nation, and world had they been allowed to 
live. Our society now discriminates against these tiny human beings, 
who should receive the same protections as other persons.
  Not only does abortion strip the world of human lives; it also 
dramatically affects the lives of mothers, leaving them to deal with 
the emotional aftermath of this brutal procedure. I commend the work of 
pregnancy care centers across the country that provide needed services 
to both mothers and their children.
  Today I mourn the over 50 million American lives cut short by 
abortion since Roe v. Wade and pray that God continues to heal those 
touched by this tragic practice. I will remain steadfast in the fight 
for the rights and dignity of the unborn. Every human deserves the 
opportunity to live, and I will always fight to guard the rights of the 
unborn. I am dedicated to protecting the sanctity of human life, from 
the unborn to the elderly.
  Like a majority in the House today, I made good on a campaign promise 
and voted to repeal the job-destroying health care law known as 
ObamaCare. There were many reasons for my vote to repeal, but one of my 
main reasons was that the bill did not adequately protect life. You 
will recall President Obama signed a well-intended, but ineffective, 
executive order stating that no Federal tax dollars could be used for 
abortions under ObamaCare. We need that commitment written into law. 
That is what I will fight for.
  Tomorrow, the House will vote on a resolution directing the 
appropriate House committees to start working on legislation to replace 
ObamaCare with patient-centered commonsense reforms.

                              {time}  2020

  Like many Americans, I want to see health care reform that, among 
other things, includes statutory language prohibiting taxpayer funding 
of abortions and provides conscience protections for health care 
providers. During my time in Congress, I have sponsored, cosponsored, 
or supported many bills related to protecting the unborn, the family 
and traditional values.
  One such bill I supported last Congress was H.R. 227, the Sanctity of 
Human Life Act, which declares that the right to life guaranteed by the 
Constitution is vested in each human being and that life begins at 
conception. I became an original cosponsor of similar legislation, H.R. 
212, which was just introduced.
  Additionally, I am a member of the Values Action Team and the Pro-
Life Caucus. Through these groups I work with my pro-life colleagues in 
Congress to advance legislation and initiatives that support life and 
family.
  One day in the future, and I don't know soon or how long it may take, 
I believe with all my heart that this country will have a renewal of 
respect for life, including for the unborn.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I yield now to the gentlewoman from Ohio, 
Jean Schmidt. I don't think there has been a single battle on the life 
issue that she has not been speaking out in front, speaking in defense 
of the unborn and their mothers.
  Mrs. SCHMIDT. Thank you so much for those kind words from my friend 
from New Jersey.
  You know, Mr. Speaker, when we talk about abortion, we think of this 
as a 40-year-old movement. We think about 1973 and Roe v. Wade, and 
that that was the catalyst to move this movement forward. We think 
about people like Barbara and Jack Wilke from Cincinnati, Ohio, 
pioneers and leaders who actually coined the phrase, right to life.
  Mr. Speaker, we forget that this is not a 21st century issue. This is 
a centuries-old issue.
  You know, it was actually the suffragists, those women over 150 years 
ago, who talked about women's rights, the right to vote, the right to 
own property, the right to speak, the right to run for public office, 
who also talked about the right to life.
  To these women, the very concept of feminism demanded that the basic 
human rights be extended to everyone without exception, including the 
unborn. And feminism meant rejecting the use of force to control or 
destroy one another, particularly among the most vulnerable and 
defenseless of the population.
  So to suffragists, the act of abortion was much more than harm 
imposed upon a woman and her child. It was a frontal assault on 
womanhood and feminism, and an insult to the philosophical 
underpinnings of their cause.
  And how do we know this? Well you know, Mr. Speaker, all we have to 
do is look at their writings. All we have to do is look at people like 
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony and ``The Revolution.'' 
They both wrote extensively about abortion, calling it infanticide and 
child murder.
  Susan B. Anthony also wrote, ``Guilty? Yes. No matter the motive, 
love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering from the unborn 
innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits abortion. It will 
burden her conscience in life; it will burden her soul in death.''
  Victoria Woodhull, the first female candidate for President, stated 
similarly that ``Every woman knows that if she were free, she would 
never bear an unwished for child, nor think of murdering one before its 
birth.''
  Sarah Norton, who first challenged Cornell University to admit women, 
also pondered whether there would ever come a time when ``the right of 
the unborn to be born will not be denied or interfered with.''
  And Alice Paul. We all remember Alice Paul, the author of the Equal 
Rights Amendment. Mr. Speaker, it may surprise you. She stated abortion 
is the ultimate exploitation of women.
  You know, I could talk all night about this, but we have women's 
history month in March, and I hope that I can be invited back again to 
speak more on the history of women and the human rights pro-life 
movement, because it's not just about human rights for one individual, 
it's about human rights for all individuals, the unborn, the born, and 
the elderly.
  So I thank my colleague from New Jersey for hosting this forum 
tonight. I really appreciate his leadership in the pro-life movement, 
and we are going to continue to forge ahead until everyone in America 
has the right to life.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I thank my friend for her statement and for 
her leadership.
  I yield to Tim Huelskamp, who took the baton from Jerry Moran, who 
has

[[Page 488]]

gone on to the Senate, and thank him for joining us tonight and look 
forward to his comments.
  Mr. HUELSKAMP. Thank you, Congressman. I would like to recognize the 
longtime efforts of Congressman Chris Smith in defending life. I have 
watched from afar for many years, and it's a real treasure for the 
opportunity to speak here tonight and join his efforts and, in my 
opinion, and in the opinion of many other Americans, one of the 
greatest, greatest tragedies in the history of our Nation has been the 
direct death and the direct murder of more than 50 million Americans 
since 1973. Far too often, too many women, too many families turn to 
abortion as the only option when they discover they are unexpectedly 
pregnant.
  Situations exist that make the thought of being responsible, perhaps 
for another life, overwhelming to say the least.
  But abortion is not the only option available to these women and to 
their families. My wife and I have had the joy and privilege of 
adopting four children, and two of those children are from the country 
of Haiti and two of the others were already Americans. Incidentally, my 
oldest, when she was young, she didn't believe that babies arrived via 
stork, they arrived on airplanes, because our second two children were 
picked up at the airport.
  But that reminds me of another story, a 5-year-old. She said, 
``Daddy, can't we tell them to do adoption, not abortion?'' Yes, we 
can, and that's the message I would like to make sure we share tonight 
because supporting adoption is often the neglected, the unreported side 
of the pro-life coin.
  If we are going to encourage women and families not to abort their 
babies we need to offer alternatives. And all across this country, 
there are thousands and thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of men and 
women that are adopting children, that are offering their services, 
particularly through local crisis pregnancy centers, and offering 
opportunities for the children and for women and for their families.
  And I know, literally, there are millions of Americans today that are 
waiting for a child, that are awaiting a child, and I would even more 
strongly encourage other Americans to consider adoption.
  Let me speak directly to those that might be considering abortion: 
There are alternatives. There are opportunities. There are caring 
Americans that would love, would love to participate in adoption and 
would love to provide assistance.
  I am also a proud cosponsor of No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion. The 
leading abortion provider in the country, and these, Mr. Speaker, are 
really stark statistics, in the last year available, Planned Parenthood 
of America, in 2008, they performed, they committed, they slaughtered 
more than 324,000 little girls and little boys across this country, 
324,008 abortions. They only participated in 2,405 adoptions; 324,000 
abortions, less than 2,500 adoptions. There are other opportunities, 
there are other options. Adoption is the option.
  I would ask that we consider to defund an industry that is not 
concerned with the women, not concerned with the families.
  But let's turn our attention towards those across America that have 
given their hearts and homes and opened them up to our youngest members 
of society.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Thank you so much for your statement and for 
your emphasis on adoption, an alternative that is often forgotten, and 
it provides such a meaningful way for building a family. Thank you for 
that.
  I yield to Marlin Stutzman, the distinguished gentleman from Indiana.
  Mr. STUTZMAN. Thank you and thank you to my colleagues for bringing 
this very, very important issue to the House floor this evening. I 
appreciated all the other comments that have already been made.
  Having the opportunity to serve as the chairman in public policy back 
in Indiana, I do remember the time when my wife and I were expecting 
our second born. When we were dealing with pro-life legislation in 
Indiana, and having the opportunity to go home and to see the 
ultrasounds of our second-born son was quite the experience.

                              {time}  2030

  And I know that with the anniversary of Roe v. Wade coming up, this 
is an issue that is on a lot of hearts and minds of Americans across 
the country. So today I rise as we remember the 38th anniversary of Roe 
v. Wade, but more importantly the millions of innocent lives taken 
since 1973. In 2008 alone, there were over 1.2 million abortions; that 
is 3,315 innocent unborn children per day, 138 per hour and about two 
every minute.
  While I have no doubt that future generations will place Roe v. Wade 
alongside the terrible Dred Scott decision, I know that there is much 
unfinished work before us. All of that work begins with a single 
inquiry. Mr. Speaker, a simple question forms the cornerstone of a 
national debate: When does human life begin? Without that answer, we 
are left with empty rhetoric and euphemisms. So I ask: When does human 
life begin? This question is not a lofty philosophical endeavor. 
Science has already given us the answer. Advances in molecular biology 
underscore the undeniable fact that life is present from the moment of 
fertilization. That life is fully human and infinitely valuable. Those 
who willfully ignore reality ought to remember the admonition of our 
second President, John Adams, that facts are stubborn things.
  Because a unique human life begins at the moment of fertilization, it 
is our solemn duty to defend the unborn, to speak up for the weak, to 
continue with firmness in the right. I proudly support H.R. 212, the 
Sanctity of Human Life Act, which defines human life accordingly and 
affirms that each State has the authority to protect the lives of all 
human beings. We take up this charge because we are still dedicated to 
the proposition that all men are created equal. All possess the 
inalienable right to life.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I thank you for your very fine statement and 
very strong commitment to the sanctity of human life.
  I would like to now yield to Ann Marie Buerkle who is both a nurse, 
but also got her law degree. So she brings both the law and the 
medicine side to this equation. So I yield to her.
  Ms. BUERKLE. Thank you to the gentleman from New Jersey for yielding 
us time and for his unwavering support of life.
  Mr. Speaker, this coming Saturday marks the 38th anniversary of Roe 
v. Wade, a decision that fundamentally altered the moral landscape of 
America. For much of those 38 years, I have been very involved in the 
pro-life movement, both as an advocate for the unborn and a counselor 
of troubled women and teens, the unspoken second victims of abortion. 
As we reflect upon the sobering anniversary and the tremendous loss of 
life that it represents, I see reasons for hope. Attitudes are 
changing, and more and more young people are rejecting abortion as a 
choice for their lives.
  Technology has opened remarkable windows to the womb. So much of the 
early pro-life movement emerged from a frustration of the time. No one 
seemed to be listening, and we tried to get people to care. Now 
technology, such as the 4D ultrasound imaging, has aided us in our 
quest to preserve life, showing women that their unborn is not a clump 
of cells, but a child that they can see rubbing her eyes or sucking his 
thumb.
  As we continue to fight for the unborn, we must not cede the ground 
we have won. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act circumvents 
the Hyde amendment by allowing government subsidies in Medicaid, 
Federal Employee Health Benefits Programs and international aid to be 
used to cover abortions. For over 30 years, the Democrats and 
Republicans have worked together each year to ensure that taxpayer 
dollars do not subsidize abortion. The Affordable Care Act represents a 
departure from that compact. Specifically, this law will allow $11 
billion in taxpayer funds to be used for abortions at community health 
centers.
  In addition to the Federal subsidizing of abortions through the 
Affordable

[[Page 489]]

Care Act, I join other pro-life Members of this Congress in expressing 
my concerns about the use of Skype technology to perform telemed 
abortions. Planned Parenthood of Iowa is dispensing the abortion-
causing drug RU-486 through a teleconferencing system, resulting in 
more than 1,900 abortions.
  Our Forefathers understood that ``all men are created equal, that 
they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that 
among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.'' Among 
these, the most fundamental right is the right to life.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I thank the gentlelady for her statement and 
for her leadership. This class, and I think the American public would 
really appreciate this, of 87 Members elected on this side of the 
aisle, they are overwhelmingly pro-life, and more pro-life women than 
ever now sit as Members of Congress. It is really very encouraging.
  I would like to yield to my good friend and colleague from Illinois, 
Bob Schilling.
  Mr. SCHILLING. Thank you, Representative Smith, for the opportunity 
to speak during this Special Order subject of life. Today I stand to 
speak for those who can't speak for themselves. As a father of 10, life 
is a big issue at my house. After the Presidential election, my 
daughter, Rachel, came to me and my wife and looked at me with tears in 
her eyes and said, hey, Daddy, who is going to protect the unborn 
children? That was a big part of why I chose to run for Congress, along 
with all the other things.
  Today, I was proud to become an original cosponsor of the No Taxpayer 
Funds for Abortion Act. When we look at the taxpayer funds that are 
going to be available for abortion, even some of my pro-choice friends 
disagree with taxpayer funding of abortion.
  This bill is very important. It makes permanent the Hyde amendment, 
the Helms amendment and the Dornan amendment. One of the things one of 
my colleagues spoke about a little bit, Tim, earlier was speaking about 
looking at adoption as an alternative to abortion.
  A story that sticks in my mind today is I went to a crisis pregnancy 
center in Boling, Illinois, and these are folks who encounter crisis 
pregnancies. And the lady was telling me the story of a young lady who 
was going in for an abortion. She thought she would come in and get a 
little more information. They did a sonogram, and the baby was laying 
still. It was down towards the end of the sonogram, and all of a sudden 
that baby just came to life and put on a show for mom. That brought a 
tear to my eye when I heard that story.
  When you look at life, without life, we have nothing. A big reason 
that I am pro-life is that when we look at all of the doctors, all of 
the people who could invent something for this great Nation, I remember 
growing up in 1973 when this became legal, it was considered a blob of 
tissue. Today we pull them out by their feet first to save the life of 
the mother when the mother's life is in danger. And I just can't even 
imagine what transpires there, and sometimes don't want to.
  But I believe that as Americans, we need to defend life to its 
fullest. I believe life begins at conception and it ends at our natural 
death. I have talked to people who have had an abortion. The hurt goes 
on with women who have had abortions. I think we need to focus in on 
educating folks and giving them that alternative. And maybe every 
Planned Parenthood out there should have to do sonograms maybe even in 
a 3D series.
  I really do appreciate an issue that is near and dear to my heart, 
and I really do thank the Congressman here for putting this event 
together and look forward to serving in the House of Representatives 
with him.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Schilling, thank you very much for your 
great statement. And your comments about your child saying, who will 
defend the baby? I remember a woman by the name of Jean Garton who was 
with Lutherans for Life. She was preparing a slide show of actual 
abortions, which are hideous to behold, but it is a reality that has to 
be understood to know what abortion really is. And her young child 
walked in and said, Mommy, who broke the baby? looking up at the 
shattered bodies of unborn children. So from the mouths of children, 
truth is spoken.
  I would like to welcome back to the House, as we all do, Steve 
Pearce, a Member from New Mexico. We are just so glad to have you back.

                              {time}  2040

  Mr. PEARCE. I thank the gentleman from New Jersey, and I appreciate 
his constant leadership on this issue of life.
  Our Founding Fathers told us that life, liberty and the pursuit of 
happiness were treasured values in this country. I think that it was no 
accident that they placed life at the beginning of that order.
  It is easy to believe that any society is judged for its quality 
based on its willingness to be a voice for those who are the most 
fragile, those who have the least standing in that society. And in this 
society and in all societies, none are with a quieter, less obvious 
voice than the unborn. So our willingness to stand up and support them 
is a reflection on the quality of this culture, and we need to do more.
  Today, in Santa Fe and elsewhere around the country, pro-life 
citizens join in a March for Life. While my schedule for votes here 
today prevented me from being there, I am happy to associate my voice 
with them tonight and in the months to come. Since Roe v. Wade was 
decided, over 50 million lives have been terminated through abortion.
  Great strides have been made legislatively. It is now wrong to take a 
minor across a State line. The partial-birth abortion process has been 
banned. Some States have passed a law requiring a 24-hour waiting 
period, but much is left to be accomplished.
  Ultimately, the questions comes up: When does life begin? The Supreme 
Court Justices who decided the case actually expressed that concern 
themselves about when life began, but that was a discussion of decades 
ago. Science today leaves no doubt. The DNA is established on day one 
and never changes through the baby's life. The sonogram is evolving our 
Nation's view on abortion as we speak.
  For many who have been educated in our universities, they believe 
life begins at birth. But the young, who are looking at the sonograms 
and seeing that heartbeat within the first few days, recognize that 
they can no longer believe that this is some mass of tissue with 
inconsequential matters at risk.
  And so this Nation is beginning to become more pro-life day by day, 
and that is a blessing, because in the end, every society will be 
judged by its willingness to speak for those with no voice.
  Again, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey. I am proud to add my 
voice to those who speak for the most fragile--the unborn. May God 
bless this country, and may God bless the mothers of this country.
  Thank you.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Pearce, thank you.
  One of the things that we have in Congress is a large number of 
medical doctors, OB-GYNs and others who are overwhelmingly pro-life. 
Dr. Roe from Tennessee is among us.
  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, as an obstetrician-gynecologist, I have delivered close 
to 5,000 babies and strongly support the sanctity of life. Using 
technology like the 3-D ultrasound has given us windows to the womb 
that show the unborn child as living, breathing, a feeling human being. 
I have looked through that window with my own eyes numerous times, and 
I have seen human development occur from the earliest stages of the 
tiniest embryo all of the way through birth, which strengthens my 
conviction in the right to life.
  Life is a precious miracle from God which begins at conception. It is 
our responsibility and privilege as legislators to protect those who do 
not have a voice. I will always fight for the right to life because it 
is my conviction that we are all unique creations of a God who knows us 
and loves us before we are even conceived.

[[Page 490]]

  Tonight we mark one of the most tragic, misguided Supreme Court cases 
in our Nation's history, Roe v. Wade. Since 1973, more than 50 million 
babies have been denied the right to life. We must make our laws 
consistent with our science and restore fully legal protections to all 
of those who are waiting to be born. If government has any legitimate 
function at all, it is to protect the most innocent among us.
  For over 30 years, Congress has prevented taxpayer-funded abortions. 
Unfortunately, this door has been reopened with the passage of 
ObamaCare, the largest expansion since the pivotal Roe v. Wade 
decision. In response, House Republicans in the Pledge to America vowed 
to repeal and replace this legislation. I look forward to working with 
my new colleagues to ensure this promise is kept. It is only by making 
good on this oath that we can expect to restore the trust that the 
American people have in their own government and, in doing so, ensure 
that the door to taxpayer-funded abortions remains closed.
  I want to congratulate the Hope Center in Greenville, Tennessee, 
which is sponsored by the First Free Will Baptist Ministries who 
support life. These people do a wonderful job in ministering young 
mothers who may be single or married to preserve life.
  I am glad to be here on the House floor tonight with my friend and 
other legislators fighting for the rights of the unborn. And I want to 
thank the gentleman from New Jersey who literally is one of the leaders 
and heroes in the pro-life movement. I can't say enough about 
Congressman Smith and what he has done to promote this right to life 
across the country.
  As I was walking over here toward the House floor tonight, I had some 
thoughts about children I have delivered. I have seen those children 
grow up in my hometown, Johnson City, Tennessee. The beauty of it is 
that you get to coach these young kids in Little League ball and you 
get to watch them grow up and come to your home and graduate. The 
people I have seen have been young doctors and nurses and teachers and 
college athletes and newspaper writers and news directors. All of these 
young people I have delivered and seen grow up, and the world would not 
be a better place if they were not here. The world would be a much 
worse place. Think about how many thousands and tens of thousands and 
millions of the same people I just delivered that I watched grow up in 
my community that are not here today because of this terrible law.
  I do want to mention one thing medically that was brought up a moment 
ago about a third trimester abortion to save a mother's life. Let me 
make this as clear as any doctor can make anything: There is no medical 
indication whatsoever for a third trimester abortion, period. Let me 
say that one more time, and I will debate this anywhere with any doctor 
in the world: There is no medical indication on this Earth for a third 
trimester abortion.
  I thank the gentleman. I am encouraged about the degree that the 
American people are changing their minds, and I think if we keep 
working and talking and explaining and changing hearts, we will change 
this terrible law.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I thank the gentleman for his leadership and 
the expertise of being an OB-GYN who has been there and knows better 
than almost all of us how sacred and fragile the life is of an unborn 
child, as well as his or her mother.
  I would like to yield to Jim Lankford from Oklahoma and thank him for 
being here this evening.
  Mr. LANKFORD. I thank my colleague from New Jersey for hosting this 
time in the House Chamber.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of one of the most basic functions of 
any government. Three thousand years ago, a mom taught her son, the 
king, how to be a wise ruler. We have her words written down in 
Proverbs 31, where she told him, ``Speak for those who cannot speak for 
themselves.''
  Two hundred thirty-five years ago, our founders wrote a despot king, 
``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created 
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable 
rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of 
happiness.''
  This truth that all people have the right to life is so obvious, so 
clear that they called it ``self-evident.'' But in America, millions of 
people cannot pursue happiness and they cannot appreciate liberty 
because their first God-given right was denied--life.
  In recent days, discussion from the left has turned to reducing the 
numbers of abortions. I applaud this line of thinking because it admits 
one thing--abortion is wrong. It destroys a life and it devastates a 
future of a mom.
  I ask: Why should abortion be reduced if it is just another medical 
procedure to remove some unwanted tissue from a woman? If it is just 
tissue, what does it matter? No one is saying that we need to reduce 
the number of skin moles being removed or reduce the number of warts 
that are removed, that that is unconscionable. Why? Because we know 
that a wart is unwanted tissue. But a fetus, that is a baby.
  We can use any euphemism, like ``fetus'' or ``dividing tissue'' or 
``embryo,'' or just simply ``inconvenience,'' but no one comes to the 
family and says: How is the embryo? No one says to a pregnant woman or 
hears a pregnant woman say: Excuse me, I just felt the fetus kick. No 
one comes to a baby shower and says: Here is a gift for your 
inconvenience.
  Say what you want, split hairs all you want, we know that is a baby.
  Decades ago, we could not look into the womb and see the development 
of the child. People were told the child in the womb was just like a 
chicken embryo. But now, with 3-D ultrasound, we can look into the 
darkness of the womb and see a child kicking her feet, sucking her 
thumb. We can count her fingers and toes and watch their tiny 
heartbeat.

                              {time}  2050

  At 20 weeks, we can look at the child inside and even say boy or 
girl. Why? Because it's a child, not just an embryo. The difference 
between an adult and a child in the womb is just time. They are a 
person who must be given their most basic of all human rights--life.
  I strongly support defining life at conception. I strongly support 
adoptions. I strongly support crisis pregnancy centers and Hope 
Pregnancy Centers, which are doing such a great job all around the 
country and all around my district in Oklahoma. It is time to cut off 
Federal funding for abortion.
  Why is it in America that taxpayers who are mortified at the thought 
of abortion are required to also give their tax money to fund abortions 
around the world?
  When a constituent comes to me and asks, Why are my taxes so high? I 
have to tell him, Partially because your government is spending some of 
your hard-earned money on abortion funding around the globe.
  Why is it in this Chamber today we can debate for hours if an infant 
should be guaranteed health care coverage, but yet some of the same 
individuals who demand insurance protection for that child would find 
no issue in killing that infant only moments earlier when it was in the 
womb?
  Earlier today, a clinic in Philadelphia was raided, where a physician 
was arrested for fully delivering infants 6, 7, 8 months into the 
pregnancy and for stabbing with scissors those children after they had 
been delivered--today.
  This is the United States of America. This issue is not about 
oppressing women or denying choice. It is about protecting children and 
honoring the self-evident truth that everyone is endowed by their 
Creator with certain inalienable rights, including and especially life.
  Almost four decades ago, individuals in this Chamber laid the 
foundation for a court ruling that has stripped the womb of its glory 
and its majesty. For decades since, legislators in this Chamber have 
protected bald eagle eggs, migrating insects, snail darters, and rare 
flowers, but we refuse to protect children.
  May God have mercy on our Nation, and may we awaken one day to the 
horror of what abortion policies have done

[[Page 491]]

to our Nation. We would rather protect our fundraising, our leadership 
and our convenience than protect the unborn child. This is not a 
difficult choice. It is a clear choice--and we should choose life.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Thank you, Mr. Lankford, for your very 
powerful statement.
  I would like to now yield to my good friend and colleague from 
Georgia, a medical doctor as well, Dr. Paul Broun.
  Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe the greatest moral issue we face as a Nation 
is the killing of 4,000 unborn children every single day through 
abortion. Mr. Speaker, God cannot continue to bless America while we 
are killing these children. They're children. They're babies. They're 
human beings.
  When I came to Congress in 2007, the very first bill I introduced was 
my Sanctity of Human Life Act. I am a medical doctor. I know without 
any question that life begins when the spermatozoa, the sperm cell, 
enters the cell wall of the oocyte, the egg, and produces a one-celled 
human being called a zygote. That zygote is totally different from its 
mom. It has every function, every bit of genetic makeup to be a grown 
human being if we just nurture it and allow it to grow and allow it to 
live.
  I have been involved with a crisis pregnancy center in Athens, 
Georgia. Not long ago, we had a young lady who was considering 
abortion. She came there, and she had an ultrasound. She was about 10 
or 12 weeks along. I don't recall exactly, but it was early on in her 
pregnancy. She had just found out a few weeks before that she had 
missed her period, so she came for a pregnancy test.
  When she saw that ultrasound, her exclamation was, ``That's a baby.''
  That's what we see over and over again with these expectant moms when 
they see those ultrasounds. That's the reason she understood it was a 
baby. It is a baby. It is a human being. There is no greater freedom, 
no greater liberty, than to live. There is no greater protection that 
we as a government can give to protect human beings all the way from 
the time of fertilization until they have natural deaths.
  You see, Mr. Speaker, God creates those children. We do not have the 
moral authority to take their lives. We've got to protect their lives. 
In a free society, where liberty is held in the highest esteem by every 
individual in this country--whether Republican or Democrat, liberal or 
conservative--the right to life is a fundamental form of liberty. We 
have to protect life. That is the reason the first bill I introduce in 
every single Congress will continue to be my Sanctity of Human Life 
Act.
  My friend and fellow Member from California, Duncan Hunter, Junior, 
has reintroduced his dad's bill, Duncan Hunter, Senior. Their bill is 
called Life at Conception Act. I am a cosponsor of their bill, as 
Duncan Hunter, I, and now Duncan Hunter, II, are of my bill. We have to 
stop this travesty, this awful, horrendous attack, moral attack, upon 
our basic rights as human beings--and that is the right to life.
  Mr. Speaker, if we cannot protect life, then we cannot protect any 
liberty. We cannot protect any freedom that our Founding Fathers 
created the Constitution to protect--those God-given rights.
  We have had many of our colleagues tonight speak from the preamble 
that Thomas Jefferson penned in 1776, the preamble of the Declaration 
of Independence. Thomas Jefferson is considered one of the least 
religious of our Founding Fathers, but he believed in life. That's the 
reason he penned it there. He believed in God. We're not taught that in 
school anymore, but that's factual.
  You see, even if you don't believe in God, from a scientific 
perspective, there is only one place in a person's life where you can 
draw the line between no life being there and life and human being and 
personhood being established, and that's at the time of fertilization.
  Roe vs. Wade, in the decision, was predicated on there being no 
legislative definition of the beginning of life. That's the reason it 
is absolutely critical that we define life as beginning at 
fertilization--to protect those one-celled human beings.
  It is absolutely critical that every person in this country who loves 
liberty and who wants to protect life contacts their Congressmen, 
contacts their Senators and says, We have to protect life. We have to 
protect all our God-given freedoms, particularly life. ``Contact your 
Senators,'' is what I tell my constituents.
  What I tell people all over this country is ``Contact your Senator. 
Contact your Congressman.'' Tell him to support the Sanctity of Human 
Life Act, my bill, or Duncan Hunter's bill, the Life at Conception Act. 
Join in this fight because there is no greater moral issue that this 
country faces. If we want God's blessings upon America, we have to 
protect these most vulnerable of human beings--the unborn children.
  In Proverbs, God says, Speak up for the speechless in the cause of 
those appointed to die. That's what we are here tonight to do is to 
speak up for those speechless, those appointed to die by abortion.
  We have got to end abortion. We don't need a constitutional 
amendment. We need a legislative definition: the beginning of life to 
occur at fertilization. Once we have that placed into law, we will stop 
this blight upon our society, this dark era in the history of this 
Nation that began in 1973 with this awful decision of the Supreme Court 
called Roe vs. Wade. We have to protect life. We have to protect 
liberty. We have to protect every single human being's God-given 
rights.
  Protecting life is important--from fertilization all the way to 
natural death--and I promise that I will continue with every bit of my 
being, and many other of our colleagues, Republicans and Democrats 
alike, will continue to fight for life.
  So, Mr. Speaker, if we want God's blessings upon America to continue, 
we have to end this blight upon America.

                              {time}  2100

  We have to define life beginning at fertilization and protect life 
for these unborn children.
  Thank you, Mr. Smith. And I want to personally thank you for your 
tireless fight in this issue because you've been a stalwart here in 
this House for many, many years, and I greatly personally appreciate 
the great work you've done for years and years in protecting life. So 
thank you and God bless you. And we have to get the killing of these 
unborn children stopped so God can continue to bless America.
  Thank you, Mr. Smith.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Dr. Broun, thank you for your eloquence and 
your kind remarks, and I want to thank you for your leadership. Again, 
as a medical doctor, I think you and Dr. Roe and the other docs bring 
such credibility.
  I hope Americans are listening. I hope my friends on the other side 
of the aisle who take the other side of this issue will begin 
listening. There needs to be a reevaluation. America needs to take a 
second look, a long and sustained look at the surface appeal arguments 
of the abortion rights side.
  Abortion is violence against children. It dismembers a child; it 
decapitates a child; it chemically poisons a child. One of our earlier 
speakers talked about RU486 and how tailor-made abortions are being 
promoted by Planned Parenthood. RU486 actually operates in two ways. 
The first chemical starves the baby to death so the child in utero, the 
child in the womb simply cannot get nourishment to continue living. The 
second chemical brings about the expulsion of that baby--who is usually 
dead, but not always. If that isn't child abuse, if the other methods 
of abortion are not child abuse, I don't know what is.
  This idea that life begins at birth belongs in another era, 
especially with ultrasound technologies available, as several of my 
colleagues have said, the ``window to the womb.'' As a matter of fact, 
it should be noted that even the leading pro-abortion activists in the 
1960s and early 1970s, Dr. Bernard Nathanson from New York, one of the 
three cofounders of NARAL, which is one of the leading pro-abortion 
groups

[[Page 492]]

in the country, Dr. Nathanson said he presided over 60,000 deaths to 
children as he ran the largest abortion clinic in New York City. He 
went on to become a pro-lifer. And what caused that huge change of 
heart both in his mind and in his heart? It was that he began doing 
blood transfusions and began to see that an unborn child is a patient 
just like any other patient who may be sick, have a disability, that 
early efforts and interventions could mitigate whatever that anomaly 
might be. And because of that he said, how can I be in one room killing 
a baby with poison or dismemberment while in another doctor's office or 
in another operating theater providing this prenatal surgery? He saw 
the schizophrenia inherent in treating some children because they're 
wanted as being acceptable, and we welcome them, and if they are 
unwanted, they're throwaways. The feminists had it right when they said 
no woman should ever be treated as an object. Well, we all know that 
the unborn child, if he or she is unwanted, is treated like an object 
and a throwaway, and no human life is a throwaway.
  Let me also say that Abby Johnson, who just recently, a little over a 
year ago, left a Planned Parenthood directorship in Texas--what caused 
her to change? She saw an ultrasound abortion in real time and said, I 
just saw the baby crumple right in front of my very eyes. If that isn't 
a human rights abuse, I don't know what is either. So she became a pro-
lifer and now speaks out very, very boldly.
  Finally, Dr. Alveda King, as I mentioned earlier, is Martin Luther 
King's niece. Dr. King had two abortions. She was a ``pro-choicer.'' 
She now is one of the most eloquent pro-life leaders in the United 
States and even in the world. She has said, ``How can the dream 
survive''--talking about her uncle's dream of inclusion, of human 
rights, of civil rights for all--``how can the dream survive,'' she 
writes, ``if we murder the children?''
  She goes on to talk about how the African American population in this 
country is so disproportionately targeted by Planned Parenthood and 
others. The number of abortions for African Americans is about five 
times the rate of Caucasians and it is because of targeting. There are 
other reasons, but that is one of the main reasons. That's where the 
Planned Parenthood clinics are, frankly.
  Abortion hurts women, she makes it so clear. She is eloquent in her 
defense, as are others, in ministering to women who have had abortions. 
One thing about this pro-life movement--and I've been in it for 38 
years, I've been in Congress for 31 years--it loves them both. It says 
to both the mother and to the baby, we want to put our arms around you, 
we want to help, we want to be of assistance. And to any post-abortive 
woman, we are all about trying to help and to assist and provide some 
kind of pathway to reconciliation. That's where the post-abortive women 
like Dr. Alveda King play such a crucial role in helping women who 
otherwise would feel so disenfranchised and left out.
  I want to thank our leadership, Speaker Boehner, our majority leader, 
Eric Cantor. We have a very pro-life leadership who recognizes how 
sacred life is, how this Congress, this House needs to defend the 
defenseless. Tomorrow, I will be joining the distinguished Speaker as 
he speaks on the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. We will be 
having a press conference tomorrow. We have over 125 cosponsors. I have 
never seen a leadership so dedicated to protecting innocent human life 
as these individuals in our leadership. I would hope my friends on the 
other side of the aisle would take a second long look at the carnage, 
the unbelievable pain and agony and suffering that abortion has visited 
upon women. It is not pro-women. Abortion exploits women. And it's 
certainly not pro-child either because it decimates unborn children as 
well.
  So we have a great leadership. We have an excellent group of Members, 
men and women, Democrats and Republicans. And I do hope that we will 
move this human rights issue forward. The young people are with us, and 
this is the greatest human rights struggle ever.

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