Adam Schiff: “I am not going to attempt to speak on the unique tragedy and trauma suffered with the loss of a child. I think other…”

“I am not going to attempt to speak on the unique tragedy and trauma suffered with the loss of a child. I think other Members have already spoken to that, and could speak to it with a passion of familiarity that neither I nor any other male Member of this Chamber could. Instead, I would like to speak as a former prosecutor, someone who for 6 years went into court and prosecuted a variety of Federal crimes, and has experience not only with the job of prosecuting those cases but also handling the inevitable motions, the appellate process, the habeas corpus petitions and all of the delays attendant to litigating complex issues. This is a criminal justice bill. This is a public safety measure. Its ostensible purpose is to use the vehicle of the criminal justice system to deter attacks on pregnant women, to incapacitate those who would conduct them by lengthening the sentences, to bring about retribution on those who would commit such a heinous act. All of the purposes of the criminal justice system are served by both bill and substitute; but if one has to choose as a prosecutor going into court under one law or going into court on another, they would certainly choose to go into court under a law that is less subject to constitutional challenge and attack. The bill, as it is drafted, using definitions like a member of the species Homo sapiens at any stage of development who is carried in the womb, invites, demands in fact, constitutional litigation.”