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.
Rep. Christopher H. Smith
Mr. Speaker, the right-to-life movement is the greatest human rights movement on Earth, a remarkable decades-long struggle embraced by millions of selfless women and men of all ages, races, colors and creed and made up in recent years, I'm happy to say, disproportionately of young people.
We defend and seek to protect all the weak and vulnerable persons from the violence of abortion, infanticide and euthanasia. We believe in the politics and policies of inclusion, regardless of race, age, sex, disability or condition of dependence.
Yesterday, January 22, marked the 39th year since the infamous holdings of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the pair of Supreme Court decisions that nullified fundamental pro-life protections throughout the United States. The catastrophic loss of children's lives since Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton has been absolutely numbing. Over 54 million children have been killed by dismemberment, chemical poisoning, lethal pills, suction and starvation.
Let's not forget that RU-486 is a chemical compound. It's two chemicals, and one of the effects of one of those chemicals is to literally starve the baby in the womb to death. The second chemical brings on delivery of a dead baby. Women have been harmed by abortion as well. Over 100 studies showed significant psychological harm, major depression and elevated suicide risk in women who abort.
The Times of London wrote, 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 had abortions had twice the level of psychological problems and three times the level of depression as women who give birth or who have never been pregnant.
Younger women are also harmed by abortion psychologically. A comprehensive New Zealand study found that almost 80 percent of 15- to 18-year-olds who had abortions displayed symptoms of major depression as compared to 31 percent of their peers.
Abortion also has a deleterious effect on subsequent children born to women who have aborted. At least 113 studies showed significant association between abortion and subsequent premature births. One study by Shah and Zoe showed a 36 percent increased risk for preterm birth after one abortion and a staggering 93 percent increased risk after two.
What does this mean for subsequent children born to women who have had abortions? Preterm birth is the leading cause of infant mortality in the industrialized world after congenital abnormalities or anomalies. Preterm infants have a greater risk of suffering from common lung disease, sensory deficit, cerebral palsy and cognitive impairment and behavioral problems.
Low birth weight, which is also one of the consequences, is associated with neo-natal mortality and motility.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, at the March for Life today, there were large, large numbers of people, tens of thousands of people. As cochair of the Pro-Life Caucus, I was proud to stay with so many of our lawmakers here, many of whom are on the floor tonight, and also with our leadership, Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Cantor, Kevin McCarthy and Jeb Hensarling, among the most profoundly important speeches made about the sanctity and the dignity of human life.
And they have produced the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, H.R. 3, which not only would be a government-wide prohibition on government funding for abortion, it also had a robust, very significant conscience clause as part of that legislation.
The Protect Life Act and, of course, the defunding of Planned Parenthood, a group that aborts in its clinics some 330,000 abortions, 330,000 dead babies in its clinics each and every year. It was a great march and we had women from Silent No More campaign, post-abortive women who eloquently speak to all women not to have abortions because they are the ones who have been victimized by it, but also as a pathway to healing and reconciliation for those who have. This movement is all about forgiveness and all about reconciliation and reaching out to those who are on the other side, especially post-abortive women.
I would like to now yield to the distinguished gentlelady from Tennessee, Marsha Blackburn.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn
I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, he said something that is so important. This is a special day, it's a somber day and solemn in many ways, but yet it is a day when you think about hope and encouragement and reconciliation. We all have had constituents who have come in today to express their opinion and to mark this 39 years to be here to protest, 39 long, painful years of government-sanctioned abortion on demand.
My constituents and many Tennesseans that came here today and that gathered in churches and at the State Capitol in Nashville have done it for two reasons. One is to protest abortion. The other is to show respect for life. They have spoken with one voice.
Life is a beautiful gift from God and no government should be able to take that life away. We know in our hearts what is true. Life is a natural right, and the Declaration of Independence calls for us to protect the smallest and the weakest among us. After all, there is no independence without our most basic, fundamental right, the right to life.
There are a couple of things that have concerned many of us lately. One is abortion being smuggled into our health care system through ObamaCare. It is something that I think is morally indefensible, it is fiscally irresponsible, it is an issue that we're going to hear more about each and every day as we go through the year.
As a woman, I believe that America and our citizens deserve better than abortion. And I believe, and this is the second thing that has really caught a lot of attention lately and is an area where we are going to place some additional attention this year, and that is on Planned Parenthood. America deserves better than Planned Parenthood. And it's important that everyone realize, Mr. Speaker, that Planned Parenthood continues to profit from the destruction of human life with taxpayer money. This year, we are going to delve into that issue a little bit more and find out more about what has happened with these funds and the organization of Planned Parenthood.
Today, as our constituents have come into the city, we have been encouraged, and we have encouraged others. It's nice to be able to encourage one another. We all have prayed for the millions of women and children who are hurt by abortion, and we have also prayed that God will provide the courage and the steadfastness that is needed for us to put an end to this national tragedy.
Rep. Christopher H. Smith
I want to thank my friend, Mrs. Blackburn, for her very eloquent comments, and thank her for her leadership.
I would now like to yield to the gentlelady from Ohio (Mrs. Schmidt), who has led both in Ohio when she was there in the legislature as well as here in Washington.
Rep. Jean Schmidt
I thank my good friend from New Jersey (Mr. Smith). Your courage on this issue will not go unnoticed.
I really, Mr. Speaker, wanted to talk to you tonight about a little girl, a little girl with a 2-inch foot and the lasting impression that that little 2-inch foot has made.
I come from southern Ohio, and my parish is St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, led by Father Michael Cordier. Father Cordier has a brother, Andy, and his sister-in-law, Ann. And just recently they buried their 5-month-old daughter.
Sophia Grace Cordier was born with a chromosomal condition, one that was diagnosed long before she was born. The doctors made the suggestion that perhaps they should abort the child because the risks were so great that she wouldn't even be born alive. Given the statistics, even if she was born alive, it was likely she would not make her first birthday, so why bother. But Ann and Andy understand the meaning of life at all levels. They know that life is precious, and they knew that her life was worthy of respect.
The amazing thing is not just the hundreds of people who came to the funeral, but what happened on December 23. See, the Cincinnati Enquirer had a front-page story on the miracle baby. They showed the risks, but they also talked about life and pro-life positions, our Cincinnati Enquirer.
At the funeral, there were many pictures of Sophia Grace. But the one that left the imprint on my mind were her little 2-inch footprints. And her mother had, and I wished I could remember the exact words, but typed up something that said to the point that no matter how small the footprint, every footprint can make a lasting impression. Had Sophia not been born, the Enquirer wouldn't have run the story and it wouldn't have provoked the discussion for life, and who knows what other child wouldn't have been saved.
Ann told me at the funeral that the value of life each person has, no matter their shortcomings or faults, should be loved and cherished and protected. Ann has it right. I believe many people in this Congress have it right. And I know that Americans at heart have it right.
So today, while hundreds of thousands marched on the lawn of the Capitol in the rain to protest a really bad decision that was made 39 years ago, I saw Sophia's little footprints in my mind. As I saw those footprints on the lawn, I thought those big footprints are making as lasting an impression as little Sophia because no matter how great or how small, we all have life's value because we are children of God.
Rep. Christopher H. Smith
I thank my good friend for her excellent statement.
I now yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg).
Rep. Timothy Walberg
I thank the gentleman for his courage in standing on this issue of life. It's an important issue. And tonight, we will have the privilege of hearing from lawyers and doctors and business people who all hold the same position, the position held with the framers and founders of this great country when they began in writing the greatest document man has ever written, I believe, the Declaration of Independence, that said many things, but this tonight comes in very important to us when they said:
We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
They understood in their wise minds as they deliberated together and as they contemplated doing something that had not been done in this world before, they sought their Creator for wisdom, and they understood truths that were unique and special and truths that were blessed ultimately by their Creator.
And so tonight, I don't want to speak to you from a medical perspective or from a legal perspective, but I want to speak from a perspective that really we give credence to when we look above the Speaker's rostrum and we see our motto for this great Nation: In God we trust. What does he think about what went on today? What does he think of what went on 39 years ago?
Well, the Psalmist said in the word of God that was left for us to understand and our framers and founders read, meditated upon, deliberated over, and came up with something great for this life and this country, they read words such as this. The Psalmist in Psalm 127 said:
Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward.
The prophet Jeremiah heard from God himself who said to Jeremiah:
Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.
Unique. Not a product of conception, a product of God's planning and gift.
And then in that beautiful Psalm, Psalm 139:
For You formed my inward parts; you wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.
In God we trust. He designed us. He designed a purpose for all life, Mr. Speaker. We as humans run amuck of His plan, His wisdom, if we decide what is good, what is right, what is acceptable as opposed to saying: God, thank You for the gift.
I'm a father of three gifts; I'm a grandfather of four, one in heaven that I look forward to seeing again some day after he fought and lived for 8 days on this Earth. I'm a grandfather of two others who are on the ground who I enjoy to the fullest, and a grandfather of one who is in the womb at this very time growing into what God intends him to be. And in a little over a month, I look forward to meeting and greeting that new creation, gift of God, formed uniquely in the womb.
We can think of medical practices and terms, and those are good. We can have arguments from law and Constitution, and those are good and decent. But I take the words of God, the Creator himself, and find great sustenance in my belief that life is the greatest gift that God has given. And the Savior that He gave who was born of a woman in a womb, not aborted, said:
I am come that you might have life, and life abundantly.
We would do well in this great country to say ``Amen'' to that issue and to support life in all its forms.
Rep. Christopher H. Smith
Mr. Walberg, thank you very much for that very eloquent and God-centered testimony on behalf of life. I would point out that throughout the Capitol and throughout the country there were religious services on behalf of the unborn seeking reconciliation and wisdom from above and healing. One of those was the National Memorial for the Preborn and Their Mothers and Fathers right here in the Capitol. Clergy from various denominations gathered together to pray and to hear readings from the Gospels, Old and New Testaments, and to hear the preaching of Father Frank Pavone, director of Priests for Life and president of the National Pro-Life Religious Council, and so many others of all denominations and faiths pleading before the Lord for reconciliation and, frankly, for forgiveness for this terrible tragedy of abortion on demand.
I would like to now yield to the gentlelady from New York, Ann Marie Buerkle. Mr. Walberg talked about the lawyers. Well, she is a lawyer and a nurse and brings a unique perspective to this fight, the struggle for the human rights of the unborn and for their mothers.
Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle
And I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for his leadership in this issue.
Mr. Speaker, I stand before you this evening as we commemorate the 39th anniversary of the infamous Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. And as we stand here and we reflect as a Nation the loss of millions and millions of unborn lives and the destruction and the damage that is done to the woman--there are two victims in an abortion, both the mother and the unborn--I think there is reason for us to be hopeful. This day we witnessed hundreds of thousands of Americans marching on the Capitol in support of life; and of those hundreds of thousands, so many of them were young people, high school students and college students standing up for life, doing the right thing. So I am hopeful we are changing the hearts and minds of the American people. The youth of today are willing to stand up for what's right, and they understand the words of the Declaration of Independence, that we are endowed by our Creator with unalienable Rights, among them, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and the most basic right is the right to life.
So we celebrate those youth who have the courage to stand up on behalf of life, and we pray for the change of the hearts and minds of the American people to understand that every life, regardless of how that life was conceived, is valuable; it has intrinsic value, and we must protect that life.
Rep. Christopher H. Smith
Thank you, Ms. Buerkle.
I would like to now yield to the gentleman from Tennessee, Dr. Roe. We have, in this Congress, a number of medical doctors, most of whom are profoundly pro-life. And in the case of Dr. Roe, I believe he has delivered at least 5,000 babies.
Rep. Phil Roe
I thank the gentleman for yielding. And I want to first start out by thanking my friend and colleague, Congressman Smith, for being one of the most steadfast leaders in this Nation, not tonight, not for this 1 hour of Special Order tonight, but for decades, Chris, for standing up for life and what's right, and I am proud to associate with you.
Today, as we went out on The Mall here, for those of you all who didn't see it on television, it was a cold, rainy day--and it was very cold last year and clear--but it didn't dampen the spirits of literally thousands and thousands of people who came from all over the Nation, and as Congresswoman Buerkle just said, the scores of young people who are here to celebrate life.
Life, as has been mentioned, is a precious gift from God. And not only is abortion wrong both morally and ethically, it's a really bad idea. And I know from my practice of medicine, I'm an OB/GYN doctor, as Congressman Smith mentioned, and in the group that I belong to and in the years that I was there, we delivered over 25,000 babies, myself almost 5,000 babies.
What I got to see during that time, it's been an amazing transition. When Roe v. Wade was passed, we didn't have access to ultrasound; and as ultrasound came along from just a little gray blur that you were able to see to now in 3-D and 4-D ultrasound that you're able to visualize the fingers, the hands and the movement, to see this little person very early on. We can identify a heartbeat at 28 days post-conception. And I will defy anyone to tell me that that is not a living, breathing, in utero human being. It's a person that's there that just hasn't been there quite long enough yet.
And I remember in my practice when I first began in 1977, at 32 weeks, half of the children died of prematurity at that point. Now, those children live the same as a term birth. And we're seeing that number pushed further and further and further back with children younger and younger.
We tend to think of this in our own time. Think about 50 or 100 years from now. Who knows what the technology will provide? Because it is a precious gift from God that we're protecting.
I sadly stand here and tell you that 19,500 women in Tennessee in 2008 had an abortion. That's just in one State. The rate is going down, and across the Nation it's going down, but it's far, far too many. And we've just heard a number, 54 million, that boggles my mind about how many people that is. And I can tell you, having had the opportunity to live in the community I have for 35 years and to watch young babies that I have delivered grow up to be teachers, coaches, doctors, and friends of mine--many of them are close, personal friends that I have delivered. I've watched them now take their children to soccer matches and to school plays and learn to play musical instruments and to add to this Nation and to add to the culture of this Nation. I can't imagine what this world would be like without them here.
And one of the great privileges that I've had in my life was a person that I know very well at home came to me and he said, Dr. Roe, do you remember that boy you delivered of mine 20 years ago? I said, Yeah, I do. He said, You also had the privilege of nominating him to the military academy to Annapolis. And I stand here with great pride, and I'm probably one of the few people that's been able to do that. And what if his mother had made a different decision? This young leader in this country, these are the future leaders of our Nation.
I want to finish by saying I think, to me, personally, one of the most heinous procedures that could ever be performed on a human being is a third-trimester abortion. There is absolutely no medical reason--I stand here tonight and will challenge anybody in this Nation of over 300 million people to debate me on this issue. There is no medical indication other than termination of the child's life. There is no reason to do that for any other.
I have made this challenge before, and I will make it again here tonight. I have yet to be taken up on that. I don't see any difference in that and why wait until a baby is born and do something. It's called murder then.
I want to thank Chris again, Congressman Smith, for being so steadfast in his 30-plus years. You are changing hearts and changing minds. And it is a true privilege to stand here tonight with my colleagues and to be for life. I can't imagine being otherwise.
Rep. Christopher H. Smith
Dr. Roe, thank you so very much for your kind remarks, and you have been a leader, as have the Members that have been speaking. There's no single leader, except for maybe Henry Hyde when he was the leader here in the House. But this is a group leadership of men and women who are just passionately in favor of life.
I mentioned doctors who are strongly members of this Pro-Life Caucus. Well, one of those is Dr. Fleming from Louisiana, and I would like to yield to him.
And I just point out that the Obama administration has declared war on conscious protections. He has done it in a repeated fashion, most recently in ordering all health insurers, including faith-based institutions, to pay for all means of preventing pregnancy, including subsidizing abortifacients like Ella and Plan B. Everyone must comply regardless of moral objection or religious tenets simply because Obama says so.
The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops recently had a grant to assist human trafficking victims under a law I wrote called the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. They did a great job. The reviewers said so and gave it very high marks. But that wasn't enough for the Obama administration. This past fall, the USCCB was blatantly discriminated against and thrown out of the program simply because they would not refer for abortions.
And Mr. Lankford, who will speak shortly as well, did a wonderful job in a hearing in bringing out, as did Chairman Issa, how discriminatory this really is.
Leading the effort on conscience protection, prime sponsor of the Abortion Nondiscrimination Act, is Dr. Fleming.
Rep. John Fleming
I thank the gentleman, Mr. Smith, not just for the introduction, but for the fine work you've done for so many years, sir, as well as Joe Pitts, our good friend and colleague.
Mr. Speaker, I speak to you this evening as a physician of over 30 years, a father, and a grandfather. And I have delivered, myself, many hundred babies and have found that that is one of the most important and intimate times in a person's life is taking part of and in some way delivering a baby.
Nonetheless, we have today a problem since Roe v. Wade that we are in great grievance about.
You heard Mr. Walberg so eloquently talk about the passages from the Bible that describe about knitting me in the womb and knowing me even before being born. But do you realize that the DNA of every conceived life is unique in history? There will never be another like it. In my opinion, that is God's opinion, that that is a separate and distinct human being and a person upon itself.
Let me share some facts with you. Do you realize that the heart begins beating at 23 days after conception, that the fetus begins to feel pain as early as 20 weeks and maybe even earlier? We are still waiting for some studies on that. Certainly any abortion that is committed in the middle or third trimester is obviously extreme agony for any type of fetus.
Some other important facts. While there were approximately 744,000 abortions in 1973, the time of Roe v. Wade, that actually peaked in 1990 at 1.6 million. It has come down. It has come down today to 1.2 million. Not nearly low enough. Do you realize also that over $487 million of taxpayer money is used each year to go to Planned Parenthood, which is the number one provider of abortions in this country, committing over 320,000 innocent lives to death each year?
There are things we are doing that are effective. You heard me say that we are down from a peak of 1.6 million down to 1.2 million. What are some of the things that we can do and have done? My home State, Louisiana, which was chosen by AUL to be number one in abortion law, has done the following: A mother-to-be must wait at least 24 hours after notification to actually have an abortion; she must be provided with information so she can read about this and have a cooling-off period before making that final decision; she must receive information about fetal pain, what I mentioned just a moment ago; and that she must be allowed, if she chooses, to view a sonogram to see what that fetus actually looks like, her potential baby. And Louisiana has declared that the unborn child is a human being and is therefore a person.
Mr. Speaker, there is a lot that we have done. There is a lot more we can do. Although I want to see Roe v. Wade overturned, there are still many good laws that we can produce that I think--certainly defunding of organizations that provide these abortions that can sharply lower these numbers. There is much more we can do.
We shouldn't just hold out for overturning Roe v. Wade. We should act today.
Rep. Christopher H. Smith
I would like to now yield to the gentlewoman from Alabama, Congresswoman Martha Roby.
One of the blessings of this Congress is that we have so many articulate and brave women who speak out in defense of life. I have been here for 32 years and I think we have now more pro-life women than ever.
Rep. Martha Roby
I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I also rise today to recognize the 39th anniversary of the monumental court decision of Roe v. Wade.
Since the legalizing of abortion in 1973, approximately 50 million abortions have been performed in the United States of America alone. Just today, 4,000 babies have been aborted. Over the course of 2012, as you heard the doctor just say, 1.2 million children in the United States will not be granted life.
I am unapologetically pro-life and it is a tremendous honor to be a part of this pro-life caucus. I believe that the miracle of human life begins at the moment of conception. I also believe that every human life has the inherent right to life and that this must be protected by law. As a woman, a wife and a mother of two precious young children of my own, I will continue to fight for the unborn as a Representative of Alabama's Second Congressional District.
I applaud my own home State of Alabama in its admirable fight to protect human life. Alabama recently became the fifth State to pass a measure banning physicians from performing abortions after 20 weeks, which according to the research you just heard is the point where an unborn child can experience pain. I applaud the Alabama legislature for taking such a strong stance on abortion and protecting the unborn.
I believe that I have an obligation to do everything in my power to fight for the unborn, prevent taxpayer money from funding abortions and to protect our system from the encroachment of the all-powerful judiciary.
Today is the time to celebrate the gift of life and to mourn those lives that were unjustly ended before birth. Let us use the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade as an occasion to reaffirm our belief and to vow to fight for the life of every child.
Rep. Christopher H. Smith
I thank the gentlewoman.
I would like to now yield to my good friend and colleague from Indiana, Marlin Stutzman, who before coming to the House, fought for life in the legislature. And he did a wonderful job.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman
I thank the gentleman for yielding. I want to thank him for his service and his fight on this particular issue. And it is a privilege to stand here today with so many other colleagues on this important matter.
Mr. Speaker, I stand here before you today as a father of two young boys that I'm very proud of, Payton and Preston.
In this day of technology, it is amazing what we can now see in the womb. Today I brought with me a picture of my niece that my brother sent to me and it is on my BlackBerry. If you could see the picture, it is a picture of a little girl with a pudgy nose, pudgy cheeks and a lot of hair. The doctor tells my brother and my sister-in-law that she talks a lot and it doesn't surprise me for a Stutzman.
It is amazing to see a color picture like this of a little baby girl 27 months old in the womb and to see this picture and to realize the life that is inside the womb is truly amazing and remarkable. I believe that is what is going to be a big part in leading the battle in overturning Roe v. Wade or reversing this tragic decision that has led to so many lost lives here in America.
As I served in the Indiana legislature for so many years, we fought this issue year after year. And I applaud the Indiana legislature, especially last year, in passing legislation and preventing the subsidization of abortions with State and Federal tax dollars. At the same time, I want to bring to the floor the important matter that we have to continue to push back on the Federal Government because the Federal Government has threatened to withhold other health care dollars from the State of Indiana for this decision.
Indiana has actually been most recently named the most improved over 2011 by Americans United for Life and now ranks as the number 10 State in the Nation for defense of the unborn. Planned Parenthood received over $487.4 million in government funding. That is an astounding $1.34 million per day. By their own count, they performed 329,445 abortions in that same time. That is over 900 abortions a day.
Mr. Speaker, today is the day that we stop a tragedy that is going to be a blight on this country. I believe that the young people across America that marched today here in Washington, D.C., are going to be the generation that puts an end to this tragedy.
Rep. Christopher H. Smith
Thank you very much and thank you for reminding all of us that Planned Parenthood really is Child Abuse, Incorporated, 329,000, 332,000 the year before that of innocent children decimated, killed in their clinics.
I would like to now yield to the gentleman from New Mexico, Mr. Stevan Pearce, who is back to us having served in the House. He came back after a different run.
He is a stalwart for life and a great friend of the unborn.
Rep. Steven E. Pearce
Thanks to the gentleman from New Jersey for leading this issue. The value of a Nation is measured in its willingness to speak for the most fragile among us.
In the United States, it is punishable by 5 years in jail and a $250,000 fine to destroy an eagle egg, an embryo. If you destroy a human embryo, it is not only fully legal, but it is federally sanctioned. The Nation needs to pause and ask itself about these convoluted values.
It does not pass without note that Roe vs. Wade, 39 years ago, was passed in 1973. It was the same year that the Endangered Species Act was passed protecting the eagle eggs. So at the point that this Nation was fully sanctioning the destruction of human embryos, it was fully protecting embryos of other species.
I'm fully confident today that this tragedy is going to be reversed because I hear young men and young women across this Nation who are looking at the scientific evidence to understand that it is more than a blob of tissue, but this is human life that we're ending.
We see the decline in the value of the human in our culture because of decisions that this Nation's policy leaders have made, and I see young people across this land beginning to stand up and let their voices be heard. And when we speak with one voice, Washington listens. And in this case of protecting the human life, it is time for Washington to listen.
Rep. Christopher H. Smith
Thank you so much for that very, very eloquent statement.
I would like to now yield to Vicky Hartzler from Missouri, a new Member of Congress who has already made a serious impact, particularly on the life issue. So glad to have you here.
Rep. Vicky Hartzler
Thank you so much, Congressman. It is an honor to be here tonight on the anniversary of the 39th year of the Roe v. Wade court decision. And today it was so encouraging to see the hundreds of thousands of people from all across this country come here to march and to commemorate this deadline, this decision, and to celebrate life and to pray for the day when all life is valued in this country.
It was cold, about 36 degrees here, and it was rainy, but people stood for hours out in the rain, not minding, because they believe in life. And people may say, well, why are the people doing this? And why are you pro-life?
And I'd just like to summarize it, Mr. Speaker, in that, basically because it's a child, not a choice. We see those bumper stickers around and we don't think about them very much. But those words and that reality certainly has meaning for me because words matter.
I was in sixth grade when the Roe vs. Wade decision came down, and I remember hearing a little bit about it, but not thinking too much about it. I was just busy being a 12-year old kid. But I remember one day in the hallway at school when a girl stopped me and said something about well, what do you think about abortion? What do you think? And I said, well, I don't know. And she said, well, do you think a woman should have a right to do with her body whatever she wants, and the government shouldn't tell her what to do? And I said, well, yeah. And she said well, you're pro-choice. And I said oh, well, okay. And I didn't feel quite right about it, but I didn't have much information, I didn't have much facts, I didn't know. So I remember in the future somebody asked me whether I was pro-choice, and I said yeah.
But then something happened. I got some facts, I got some information. It was in high school, in a child development class. And all of a sudden I got to see, for the first time, pictures of a developing baby. And let me show one to you now. This is one of the pictures that I saw, and this is of a 2-month old baby.
And I looked at all of these pictures, and I heard the information, and I realized that abortion is taking this life, and it's alive. It is a child. It is not a choice.
Here's some facts that I learned: That at day 22, that's just over 3 weeks, when most girls don't even know they're pregnant yet, the heart begins to beat. By the end of the third week the child's backbone, spinal column, and nervous system are forming.
By week six, brain waves are detectable, fingernails are forming. Week seven, eyelids and toes form. The nose is distinct and the baby is kicking and swimming.
By the end of the second month, which is how old this baby is here, every organ is in place. Bones begin to replace cartilage. Fingerprints begin to form, and the baby begins to hear.
By week 9 and 10, the baby can turn his head and frown, and the baby can hiccup. By weeks 10 and 11, the baby can breathe amniotic fluid and it can grasp objects in its hand. Perhaps you've seen that famous picture of that surgery on that unborn baby and how that hand came out and grasped the doctor's finger.
Week 12, end of the third month, the baby has all the parts necessary to experience pain. Like my colleague talked about, its vocal cords are complete, and the baby can suck its thumb.
Some facts that I also learned are, for instance, in 2008 there were 1.21 million abortions done and of those, 92 percent of those abortions were done during the first 3 months of life. So what that means is that there are abortions, and it would average out to about 138 an hour, I figured up, two for the minute that I'm talking here, where abortions are taking place on babies that can hear, that have a beating heart, that have brain waves going, and that have vocal cords.
It is about a child. This is not about a choice. And I commend all the people who came here today to Washington to speak out on behalf of life. And with them, I celebrate, and look forward to the day when all Americans are granted the right to life, whether they're born or unborn.
So thank you, Mr. Speaker, for having us today.
Rep. Christopher H. Smith
Thank you.
I would like to yield to the gentleman from Nebraska, Jeff Fortenberry, who is the prime sponsor of the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act and has combated abortions both at home as well as in foreign nations.
Rep. Jeff Fortenberry
I thank the gentleman, my good friend from New Jersey, for the time and for his courageous leadership on this, a central American issue of justice.
Mr. Speaker, let me say this first. What a day this has been. I spent the morning with a group of young Nebraskans who had traveled all this way to participate in the March for Life. And they came here to express one similar purpose, one truth: that all life is worthy of protection. All life should be loved and nurtured.
These young people are saying that we should be big enough, caring enough, loving enough as a Nation to see to it that all mothers and their unborn children are provided for. And these young people are saying that we should make the great woundedness of the Roe vs. Wade decision a thing of the past.
Now, Mr. Speaker, it's important to note that in the same year when Roe vs. Wade was errantly decided by the Supreme Court, stripping unborn children of their dignity and right to life, that Congress came together and enacted a very important law called the Endangered Species Act. This was a very significant piece of legislation to ensure that the majesty and wonder of nature's creations were rightly protected.
I believe the responsible stewardship of our environment is an essential cause, but there is a certain irony here. The life of a child should be of no less value than any other creature on earth. And in 2010, with my support, we passed a bill prohibiting the interstate commerce of videos that were depicting the torture of vulnerable animals. Yet, in that same year, we could not move a bill forward that prohibited interstate abortions of vulnerable children and minors without parental protection. There is a grave inconsistency in these walls.
But, Mr. Speaker, I don't know if you had a chance to look out on the National Mall today. But the hundreds of thousands of young people out there braving both the bite of cold and wind, who understand the principle for which they marched, were saying this. These young people know that abortion hurts women. These young people are saying women deserve better. And they know that abortion is so often the result of a tragic circumstance of abandonment, an unsupportive family or, worse yet, a coercive boyfriend or unscrupulous doctor, and they are saying that we can do better as a country.
Mr. Speaker, I recently received a newsletter in my mailbox at home, and it described some people who were standing in front of an abortion clinic legally, peacefully providing witness to alternatives to abortion.
A car pulled up in the driveway. The car hesitated. The man driving was very anxious and nervous. And these people who were witnessing there walked up and asked if they could be of assistance. The woman who was with him who was going in for an abortion had three children. She was unsure that she could care for a fourth child. In fact, she didn't know where her next meal was coming from.
They talked a bit. The couple decided to seek these nice people's help, who had provided a little bit of assistance, comfort, and care for them. And now 9 months later because of that act of compassion, there is a baby named David.
We should be big enough and loving enough as a country to help people get through no matter how tough the circumstances.
It is that courageous woman who made the decision to keep her child that gives me strength to stand on this floor to defend our shared convictions and fight to see the day when the scales are lifted from our Nation's eyes and we declare the unborn worthy of protection under the 14th Amendment.
Before I conclude and yield back to my good friend from New Jersey, I'd also like to say a word of thanks, Mr. Speaker, to all of the women who are saying they will be silent no more, providing the most powerful example of women who have been wounded by abortion but now who are speaking out against the abortion industry in saying we can do better as a Nation.
Rep. Christopher H. Smith
Thank you so much for your powerful statement.
I'd like to now yield to G.T. Thompson, a good friend and colleague from Pennsylvania who has spoken out so eloquently time and again on behalf of the sanctity of life.
Rep. Glenn Thompson
I thank my good friend from New Jersey for yielding and for hosting this Special Order about moral truth, that the right to life is a fundamental right, and frankly a Nation that kills its next generation is not a moral Nation.
It's been 39 years since the infamous Roe v. Wade decision, and for the 39th time, the American people have marched in Washington, D.C., in the March for Life to show Congress that they remain opposed to this decision. This year, the cold and driving rain couldn't dampen the resolve of the hundreds of thousands that turned out again. Their message was simple: stop abortion.
The act of murdering an unborn child has no place in this country. For a judicial system that is taking great lengths to try and ensure justice and fairness in the court of law, where is the justice here? Mr. Speaker, I'll ask you again, where is the justice for the unborn? The answer is simple. There is none.
But still Roe v. Wade and the subsequent left-wing pro-choice groups have pushed the envelope so that now this legalized murder of the unborn is prevalent across the country, accessible, and sometimes even partially financed by your tax dollars.
Let us look no further than last year in my home State of Pennsylvania, in a neighborhood outside west Philadelphia, an abortion mill that was in operation for over four decades, 40 years, was illegally delivering and killing newborns in a so-called abortion procedure. For years, the procedures he performed on women who came into the clinic was responsible for several deaths and severely injuring scores more.
For political reasons, even outlined in the grand jury report, the Pennsylvania Department of Health refused to inspect the abortion facilities. These abortion mills ran rampant and unchecked.
So for those who argue that this legalized murder is for the woman's health, I ask you where is the justice for those women? Where is the justice for the unborn at that facility? There is no justice in abortion for anyone.
Yet you look to the White House, and we have a President who states, ``As we remember this historic anniversary, we must also continue our efforts to ensure that our daughters have the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities as our sons to fulfill their dreams.''
Mr. Speaker, surely the President recognized he's wrong. Abortion is not the way to allow our daughters to fulfill their dreams. In America, everyone, regardless of color or gender, has the same rights and freedoms and opportunities to fulfill their dreams. Everyone except the unborn.
Mr. Speaker, surely the President knows that we will never know the dreams of the countless unborn daughters that are not with us today because of the pro-abortion policies this administration enforces.
Mr. Speaker, I stand with my colleagues tonight to say that enough is enough. How many more Roe v. Wade anniversaries must we endure until justice is done and this decision is overturned?
I thank my good friend from New Jersey.
Rep. Christopher H. Smith
I thank my good friend. Again, a very, very powerful statement.
I'd like to yield to Alan Nunnelee from Mississippi. I thank him for being here this evening.
Rep. Alan Nunnelee
I want to thank the gentleman from New Jersey for your leadership. Thank you for yielding.
Our Nation's Founders expressed in our Declaration of Independence that all individuals are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, and that among these are the right to life. Yet, since January 22, 1973, over 50 million Americans have been denied that very basic right to life. Their unborn voices call from silent graves, asking America to change our ways.
There's another group who suffers in silence: our mothers, our wives, our daughters, and our sisters. Those who have been exploited as victims of a multibillion dollar industry that profits on their grief.
On this, the 39th anniversary of that decision, we rededicate our decision to stand for life. The measure of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable of its citizens. For far too many unborn children, our Nation has abandoned that protection.
Now, there are those who say that since the Supreme Court has declared it, it must be right. This is the same Supreme Court that looked at Mr. Dred Scott and said, ``Mr. Scott, in the eyes of the law, you're not a man, but chattel.'' The legal equivalent of a cow. The Supreme Court was wrong in 1857, and it was wrong in 1973.
We will answer to a higher law, a law higher than we debate in this hallowed Chamber, a law higher than is discussed across the street in the Supreme Court. And that law says:
For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the Earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me when as yet there was not one of them.
Mr. Speaker, I echo the prophet of old:
This day I call on heaven and earth as witnesses against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children might live.
This night we choose life.
Rep. Christopher H. Smith
I thank the gentleman from Mississippi.
I yield to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Pompeo).
Rep. Mike Pompeo
Mr. Speaker, we often come to the podium to talk about a bill or piece of legislation. Today I have the great privilege to stand in support of protecting every human life.
In Kansas is a place that has marked a great piece in the history of the pro-life movement. In the early 1990s, the Summer of Mercy was held in Kansas. A huge step forward in people speaking out about the tragedy that is abortion.
I, personally, a couple years later had the privilege of working doing some research for a woman named Mary Ann Glendon, who became the ambassador of the Vatican, who taught me about how this movement can work, and how we can begin to eradicate this plague that sits on top of America after still 39 years.
For me, too, it's personal. I have a nephew and a niece that, but for a pregnancy crisis center in Wichita, Kansas, would not be my niece of 6, Emily, and my nephew of 10, James. Two brave women who made the right decision.
Today was an incredible privilege. I got to stand at the Mall and look out at hundreds of thousands of folks, including enormous groups of young people who came from Kansas on buses of 25-hour rides from Clearwater and from Norwich and from Garden Plain, and from our high schools and colleges in Kansas who came today to stand for life and to say that this movement will continue, that we are winning, that after 39 years we can now say that America understands that this is not about choice but about protecting those lives.
To see those young faces and those young smiles was a glorious thing. I want to thank them for coming to Washington, D.C., to be part of this today, and with them and with our continued effort we can do the right thing and protect every human life.
Rep. James Lankford
Mr. Speaker, I recently read about a couple who found out there was a problem in their pregnancy, that their child had not developed all four sections of its heart. So, at 23 weeks, they did a surgery where they reached in with a needle into the womb. They used a balloon technique to be able to open up the fourth chamber of the heart of that child. At 23 weeks, the family could gather around and see the video and celebrate this incredible scientific act of medical bravery, and then the family celebrated something wonderful that had happened. They had protected the life of a child. They reached into a beating heart, still in the womb at 23 weeks, and saved that child.
The frightening part is, across town, a different mother at 23 weeks of pregnancy, which is before viability in many States, could go to a different doctor, who could reach into that womb and pull that child apart limb by limb. The family wouldn't stand and celebrate nor would we look at the video and say that's beautiful, like we did with the other surgery.
Yet, in the cognitive dissidence of our Nation, we celebrate one mother, and we protect the other one simultaneously. It is unmistakable to look in that womb and see a life for both of them. Understand, this is a child in both instances, and they must stand to be protected.
It is a difficult thing for the President to say today that we must reduce the need for abortion. There is only one need to reduce the need for abortion: that is if the President understands the same thing that we do, that it's a life. He would not stand and say we need to reduce the need for some skin tissue or some mole on your arm. If it were only tissue, there is no need to try to reduce the need, but he understands we do need to reduce the need. As the President stated today, this is not protecting the dreams of our daughters; this is protecting the daughters that will never be and the nightmare guilt that is on so many women who have gone through an abortion.
We must stand for life. I look forward to the day. I look forward to the day that generations ahead of us will look back at this time and say, I am so glad that the Nation finally chose life.
Rep. Randy Hultgren
Henry Hyde was a personal friend and mentor of mine. He first helped restrict abortion funding just 3 years after Roe v. Wade. Today, Planned Parenthood receives over 363 million tax dollars a year. We're giving 1 million tax dollars a day to an organization in desperate need of oversight. If he were here today, I think Henry Hyde would be shocked and appalled at the abhorring conditions of fraud, overbilling, and the general lack of transparency found at Planned Parenthood and at other abortion clinics across the country.
We must win this fight for life. It's the only way that we can literally win our future.
Rep. Bill Huizenga
I, too, want to rise today in recognition of this 39th year since this decision has come down from the Supreme Court, and it is something that has affected my family, my life. I think we have all known somebody who has had an abortion, whether she felt forced into it or whether she made that choice. Every single one of them, I know, has regretted that.
This issue of life became very personal for my wife and me as we had to move forward through troubled pregnancies and after losing quite a few pregnancies, struggling with that whole notion of ``what is life?'' and of ``what does that mean to have that life growing in you?'' We firmly came down on the side of this being a gift from God, that creation that happens. That's something that we want to protect.
I can tell you that the hardworking taxpayers don't expect their dollars to go towards procedures such as this and that it's something that this House has continued to fight for. I hold this issue very dear, and my wife, who now serves on the board of a crisis pregnancy center back in west Michigan, also holds that very near and dear. I will continue to fight for that sanctity of life and for that dignity of life at the beginning as well as at the end as long as we're here in Congress.
Rep. Christopher H. Smith
In conclusion, tomorrow night, the President will call for a return to American values in his State of the Union message.
Mr. President, the violent destruction of the child in the womb, of the killing of babies and of the wounding of their moms is not an American value.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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