Patricia Schroeder: “Mr. Chairman, how sad I am that now for the third time we have seen Members on this floor denying the gentlewoman from…”

“Mr. Chairman, how sad I am that now for the third time we have seen Members on this floor denying the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia the right to offer her amendment. I think this Gingrich Congress is going to go down as one of the most anti-women Congresses we have ever seen. The gentlewoman was in the dining room trying to pay her bill before she ran up here. Is that a crime? My guess is if she were a guy, they would allow this to happen. But the gentlewoman sits down there trying to pay her bill and please, sometimes the service is not the fastest downstairs, because she is a very honorable woman, and she gets up here and everybody goes, ha, ha, ha, you are just 2 seconds too late. That is it. Have a nice day. What is the consequence? The consequence is that women in prison will not be allowed to have abortions. Let me tell the Members, women in prison very often have been the subject of abuse. They could be drug victims, they could be HIV-positive, they could have the same kind of physical problems that women outside of prison have. I do not know how to break it to you guys, but pregnancy is not necessarily a 9-month cruise. You do not just lay around the swimming pool eating bonbons. This could be a physically life-threatening situation.”