Charles T. Canady: “Madam Speaker, today for a second time the House considers a presidential veto of bipartisan legislation banning…”

“Madam Speaker, today for a second time the House considers a presidential veto of bipartisan legislation banning partial-birth abortion. In the last Congress, although the House overrode President Clinton's veto of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 1995, the veto was sustained in the other body. Shortly after the current Congress convened, new legislation to ban partial-birth abortion was introduced. In due course, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 1997 was passed by both Houses. President Clinton's veto of that legislation is before the House today. Just 2 weeks ago, the Members of this House and the American people received a stark reminder about the reality of partial-birth abortion. We read in press reports of a tiny baby in Phoenix, Arizona, who was almost killed by a partial-birth abortion. The baby girl survived with a fractured skull and deep lacerations on her face. She survived only because the abortionist stopped the procedure when it became obvious that she was at 9 months and not 5 months, as had originally been thought. The abortionist stopped, but we know, nevertheless, that partial-birth abortions are performed from the fifth month through the ninth month of pregnancy, and that a baby feels excruciating pain during a partial-birth abortion at any stage of pregnancy.”