Political Quotes

“I rise to address recent revelations concerning partial birth abortion. I also rise to draw my colleagues' attention to the letter sent to President Clinton by a group of American Roman Catholic leaders and read this past Sunday by Cardinal Adam Maida at the Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Detroit. That letter urged the President to ensure respect for all human rights--including those of the unborn--and called our attention to the misinformation distributed by some of those defending partial birth abortion. Mr. President, the abortion issue has been a difficult and divisive one for this country. But the unfortunate procedure of partial birth abortion need not be. The vast majority of Americans, even those who do not share my own strongly pro-life convictions, oppose partial birth abortion. This overwhelming opposition helped produce legislation during the last Congress that would have banned that morally troubling procedure. Unfortunately, that legislation was vetoed by President Clinton. Now it turns out that that veto was based in part on inaccurate information. Mr. President, those who sought to defend partial birth abortion did so on the grounds that it was rare, undertaken only in cases of severe fetal deformity and strictly a late-term procedure. These arguments served to make the procedure seem less morally troubling to some in the pro-choice camp. But it turns out that these supposedly mitigating factors do not exist.”