Mike Pence: “I am pro-life. I do not apologize for it. I do not demonize people who hold a different view; but I would say…”

“I am pro-life. I do not apologize for it. I do not demonize people who hold a different view; but I would say respectfully to the previous speaker, to the gentlewoman, that this really is not a debate about a woman's right to choose or the right to life. It does not really find itself divided in that way. Survey after survey proves the point. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the rule and the underlying ban on partial-birth abortion because this is just an antiseptic term for a barbaric procedure. As the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democratic Senator, said, memorably, partial-birth abortion is 'near infanticide.' We can have arguments about this bill, about its constitutionality. The gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Chabot) has gone to great lengths to improve this legislation, and we are confident that it is superior to the Nebraska bill that failed constitutional muster. We can argue the medicine, and we can argue the facts; but the one thing that is inarguable is that this practice is inherently, morally wrong. What is not arguable is that the practice of delivering a newborn child alive, feet first, holding it in the birth canal squirming while the back of its head is stabbed with a suction device is evil. That, Mr. Speaker, is not arguable.”