On the recordFebruary 17, 2011
Mr. Chairman, I have been a practicing physician for over 35 years. I have delivered hundreds of babies. You know, our President once said when asked when does life begin, he said, that is above my pay grade. Well, I can tell you, Mr. Chairman, it is not above my pay grade, and I can tell you as a scientist and as a physician that life begins at conception, and that is often forgotten in this Chamber right here. Abortion violates the very tenets, the simple tenets of our culture, and that is the killing of innocent life. But here is something else you don't hear much in this Chamber here today. How is it that human beings, how is it that Americans can decide to kill an innocent human life? The way we do it is through dehumanization; that is, we think of that unborn baby to be something inanimate or just a part of the body. I have seen people get more upset about a dying pet than they have in giving up their pregnancy through abortion. So I say to you, Mr. Chairman, here today that I rise in support of the Pence amendment. Yes, of course, money is fungible. Money goes in one end and then into another account and then on elsewhere. So anything that taxpayers do in terms of giving money to Planned Parenthood is subsidizing abortions. And we know that the American people by a small margin and a growing margin oppose abortion in general, but a wide margin of Americans oppose taxpayer funding of abortion. With that, I yield to the gentleman from Iowa.
