Joe Lieberman: “today the Senate once again returns to the morally perplexing question of abortion, a question which has not only…”

“today the Senate once again returns to the morally perplexing question of abortion, a question which has not only divided the Senate and divided America, but I would say that it divides individual Senators and individual Americans. I must say, as I have listened to this debate today, I am proud to be serving here, as difficult as the question before us is, because of the thoughtful, sincere and civil way in which this debate has proceeded. We have in front of us two responses to the problem of abortion: one that would prevent use of a specific medical procedure, intact dilation and extraction, which is used for abortion, and, a second that would prevent almost all abortions from being performed after viability. I believe that the second alternative, Senator Daschle's, more broadly and appropriately responds to the mix, the difficult mix, of moral and legal concerns at issue here, and, therefore, I will vote for Senator Daschle's amendment. In Pope John Paul II's Encyclical Letter on the Value and Inviolability of Human Life, His Holiness writes that, "The direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral." I respect, with humility, the depth of the Pope's statement and the moral conviction of millions of Americans of all religions who recoil from abortion and believe that any abortion at any stage of pregnancy is a taking of life.”