John Conyers: “My colleagues, we should make no mistake, this bill is not about legislating, it is a game designed to thumb Congress'…”

“My colleagues, we should make no mistake, this bill is not about legislating, it is a game designed to thumb Congress' nose at the constitutional bedrock of Roe vs. Wade, which gives a woman the right to choose. And so this is a game designed to provoke a veto, which will surely occur. Now, we would all like to end unnecessary partial-birth abortions. Indeed, had the majority really wanted to do this, we could have started working together to pass legislation some 15 months ago when this session started. Democrats would have worked to pass such legislation. But, instead, we have a charade. We wait 15 months, no hearings, no markup in subcommittee, no markup in full committee, no amendments allowed to be offered on the House floor. Why? Because the sponsors of this legislation do not want us to offer a real proposal that could get signed into law and pass constitutional muster. On their part, this is not a good-faith effort. Instead, they want a bill that they cannot pass into law or meet the requirements of the Constitution. They do this because they want an issue, not a law that will ban unnecessary late-term procedures. What does this mean? The majority wants to trample the constitutional rights of a woman to obtain certain procedures when she needs them to protect her health.”