Mark Kirk: “I want to rise and maybe remove some of the partisan tension as a Republican Member in support of this amendment that…”

“I want to rise and maybe remove some of the partisan tension as a Republican Member in support of this amendment that otherwise, without action, the global gag rule would cut off critical providers of family planning assistance. In this Congress the issue of illegal immigration is at the top of our agenda. And women in developing countries consistently report that they would like to have two to three children rather than five to seven. As population pressures rise, so does the move to enter the United States, legally or illegally. To reduce the illegal immigration pressure on our borders, we need short-term solutions like border enforcement, and long-term solutions like backing voluntary family planning to help women in developing counties have the smaller family that they want. The global gag rule has been used to cut off the International Planned Parenthood Federation because it used less than 1 percent of its own privately raised funds for abortion-related services. And when we cut off IPPF, we might have another provider of family planning assistance to the women of Mexico for example, like the UNFPA, but we cut them off too. Mr. Chairman, I would argue that the American people would strongly agree with the principle that if Mexican women wanted to have fewer children, then we should help them. Voluntary family planning would boost child survival rates. It would also lower the rate of growth of Mexico's population.”