JOHN LINDER: “Mr. Speaker, some years ago Governor Cuomo of New York made the statement that you are going to hear on the floor of…”

“Mr. Speaker, some years ago Governor Cuomo of New York made the statement that you are going to hear on the floor of this House during this debate. He said, I am personally opposed to abortion, but I will not vote to end a woman's right to choose. George Will responded to that in an article in the newspaper, where he pointed out that it is a morally incoherent statement. It is morally incoherent. He further pointed out that 141 years ago this year, Justice Roger B. Taney wrote the Dred Scott decision, which said essentially that Americans may continue to own African-Americans as chattel. What was not broadly known at that time was, 30 years prior to that, Justice Taney released his own slaves to freedom. He personally did not believe in slavery, but he did not mind if you did. That is morally incoherent. There have been three times in the history of this great Nation when we have declared portions of our population to be nonpersons under the constitutional protections. The first was Native Americans, when we took their land. The second was black people, when we took their freedom. The third is unborn children, when we are taking their lives. We are still repenting for the first two. We face yet the third.”