Dan Coats: “let me first say thanks to my colleagues from Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Ohio, and others who have so persuasively…”

“let me first say thanks to my colleagues from Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Ohio, and others who have so persuasively and so relentlessly pursued the truth of this issue and brought us to this point where we have to have an honest, open debate and a vote about where we stand on what I believe is the most important issue facing America. We do have fundamental disagreement over the subject of abortion. Strong convictions have often led to strident rhetoric. Sometimes labels and name-calling are too easily substituted for persuasion. Education is a means of winning the hearts and minds of our fellow citizens. ``Extremism'' and ``fanaticism'' have been labels that have been used and attached to those with deeply held beliefs. Yet as civil as our discourse needs to be, sometimes there are issues that are of such weight and such gravity that strong rhetoric is necessary, when the truth--raw and exposed--merits passion and rhetoric. This is such a case. There really is only one issue at stake here. That issue is that what we are confronting is an affront to humanity. It is an affront to justice to end the life of a kicking infant as it emerges from its mother's womb. That is at issue here. The legislation that the President has vetoed is not the expression of extremism. The expression of extremism is the procedure we are debating--extreme in its violence and disregard for human life and dignity.”