Nancy Kassebaum: “We have visited and revisited this issue many times. We struggled with the House of Representatives over this issue for…”

“We have visited and revisited this issue many times. We struggled with the House of Representatives over this issue for 3 frustrating, unproductive months, and we could not resolve it. We finally agreed to let the matter be resolved in the authorizing legislation. Why then, as some of my colleagues are asking, would Senator Hatfield choose to reopen the debate in the current legislation? I suggest, Mr. President, for two very important reasons: First of all, the authorizers punted. They did not address the issue in the authorizing language. Thus, we are left with an authorizing bill that was reported out of conference which does not address this issue. This part of the compromise, which we added to the last CR, was not fulfilled. Second, the language that Senator Hatfield has added to the current continuing resolution is sound policy. As he has just so eloquently stated, the simple, honest truth is that maintaining effective family planning programs is the best hope we have of limiting abortions. It is an elementary equation, I believe, that contraception does reduce abortions. Mr. President, arguments to the contrary are just misinformed. We cannot prevent abortions worldwide by preventing women from having access to the very information and services that enable them to prevent unplanned pregnancies. I applaud my friend from Oregon for his thoughtfulness on this issue.”