Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: “I want to thank my wonderful friend, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) for yielding me this time and for managing…”

“I want to thank my wonderful friend, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) for yielding me this time and for managing the bill and allowing us to focus once again on the bill and the rule. I want to thank the distinguished, the very distinguished gentleman who is the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner), as well as the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), who has been a champion of this bill, and it was in his subcommittee where it was first heard. I am so proud to stand here in favor of House Resolution 748, the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act. This bill will incorporate all of the provisions previously contained in the previous legislation that we had filed, the Child Custody Protection Act, making it a Federal offense to transport a minor across State lines to circumvent that State's abortion parental notification laws. In addition, this year's bill will require that in a State without a parental notification requirement, abortion providers are required to notify a parent. It will protect minors from exploitation from the abortion industry, it will promote strong family ties, and it will help foster respect for State laws. Similar but not identical legislation has had the support of the overwhelming majority of the Members of Congress who have voted in favor of it, not only in 1998 and in 1999, but also in 2002.…”