Political Quotes

“I cannot support H.R. 3541, the Republican bill that rolls back critical protections for a women's right to choose under the guise of preventing prenatal discrimination. While the bill's title includes the names of anti-discrimination activists Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglas, its anti- discrimination premise is disingenuous--the bill actually reverses the rights that these leaders fought so hard for centuries ago. Rather than protecting women, this bill is just another thinly-veiled attack on women's rights. H.R. 3541 is legislation for a fictional problem. Statistics demonstrate that sex selection does not happen with regularity in our nation. Specifically, the Centers for Disease Control reported that 91.4% of abortions in 2008 occurred prior to the 13th week of pregnancy, whereas gender identification by the most-common method of ultrasound is not available until between weeks 16 to 20. Further, gender ratios within the U.S. reflect a gender balance consistent with what one would expect it to be. The CIA's World Factbook indicates that the gender ratio at birth 1.05 males to females, which the Guttmacher Institute indicates is ``squarely within biologically normal parameters.'' The United States simply does not have a gender imbalance that would indicate that sex-selection occurs with any regularity. So, if gender selection is not a problem in the United States, one must wonder why the Republican leadership purports it to be one.…”