Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I want to begin my remarks today by extending my condolences to the family and friends of the 59 individuals killed in the shooting in Las Vegas, and I express my best hopes for the recovery of the more than 500 persons who were injured. This Congress has a responsibility to find a way to prevent tragedies like this, as well as the daily incidents of gun violence in our communities, but instead of considering legislation to prevent gun violence, the House is spending today pushing a 20-week abortion ban that will disproportionately hurt women and families who face some of the most medically complex situations imaginable. So it is with great pleasure that I oppose H.R. 36, because it is a dangerous and far-reaching attack on a woman's constitutional right to choose whether or not to terminate a pregnancy. Roe v. Wade's basic holding is that a woman has a constitutional right to have an abortion prior to the fetus' viability, which is generally considered by the experts to be around 24 weeks from fertilization. By banning previability abortions, H.R. 36 is a direct challenge to Roe. Another serious flaw, in my view, of H.R. 36 is that its narrow rape exception completely misconstrues the difficult challenges that survivors of sexual assault face and the very real reasons why a rape or incest may go unreported.…”