On the recordOctober 13, 2011
Even more unbelievably, the bill will allow a hospital to refuse women emergency care of this kind even when necessary to save their lives. I don't think that's what you intend. I certainly hope it's not. But it is the interpretation that many of us have put on the language of your bill. So, ladies and gentlemen of this House, this issue has been debated over and over again. We adopted a Hyde amendment. The premise of the Hyde amendment was that we shouldn't take taxpayers' money and spend it on abortion. Very frankly, I represent 60,000 Federal employees. We precluded them from using the salary that they receive to buy insurance that has abortion coverage. It's their money. I hear that all the time: It's their money. But you don't allow them to use their money for that purpose. Now you are saying to the private sector women: You can't use your money. You can't have it both ways. Either it's their money for services they constitutionally can receive or it's not. Defeat this bill. This is a difficult issue. Let us let women, doctors, and their faith deal with it.
