David Skaggs: “I'm going to vote for this bill because it promotes competition and growth in the communications industry, and I believe…”

“I'm going to vote for this bill because it promotes competition and growth in the communications industry, and I believe that will benefit consumers. I must, however, express my strong opposition to one particular provision, section 507. This section clearly violates the first amendment's prohibition against laws restricting freedom of speech. As some of our colleagues know, section 507 of this conference report incorporates by reference part of the Federal criminal law--18 U.S.C. 1462--and, by doing so, would make it a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison to transmit or receive information through an interactive computer about abortion procedures. While this bill contains other constitutionally questionable restrictions on the content of information transmitted or received through a computer, a flat prohibition on transmission or receipt of abortion information, like that contained in section 507 is, as the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary has conceded, clearly unconstitutional. While the authors of this bill have stated on the floor of the House of Representatives today that it was not their intention to restrict free speech on the matter of abortion and have stated their understanding of the unconstitutional nature of section 507, it is difficult to understand how and why this provision was ever included in this bill.”