[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 6559]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE HOUSE THAT CONGRESS AND THE STATES SHOULD 
   INVESTIGATE AND CORRECT ABUSIVE, UNSANITARY, AND ILLEGAL ABORTION 
                               PRACTICES

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. STEPHEN LEE FINCHER

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 8, 2013

  Mr. FINCHER. Mr. Speaker, I'm heartbroken as I've heard more and more 
about Dr. Kermit Gosnell's Philadelphia medical practice during the 
past few weeks. The brutal method Dr. Gosnell used to ensure death from 
a botched abortion, severing the spinal cord of a baby born alive, is 
disgusting. I pray we are all shocked and disturbed by what has been 
revealed about abortion during this trial.
  While Dr. Gosnell stands trial, there are still over a million babies 
who die from abortion each year in the United States. That's almost 2 
times more deaths than caused by cancer in the U.S. every year and 2 
times more than heart disease. Abortion is taking an innocent life and 
we have to stand against it.
  That's why I am introducing this House resolution to review public 
policies that led to the illegal abortion practices of Dr. Kermit 
Gosnell and others. The resolution resolves that Congress and States 
should gather information about and correct abusive, unsanitary, and 
illegal abortion practices and the interstate referral of women and 
girls to facilities engaged in dangerous or illegal second- and third-
trimester procedures.
  The resolution also recognizes that there is substantial medical 
evidence that an unborn child is capable of experiencing pain at 20 
weeks after fertilization, or earlier, and resolves that there is a 
compelling governmental interest in protecting the lives of unborn 
children beginning at least from the stage at which substantial medical 
evidence indicates that they are capable of feeling pain.
  Life is precious, children are precious. People talk about choice 
when we talk about abortion, and we should encourage more Americans to 
choose life and protect the most innocent in our nation.

                          ____________________