James Oberstar: “this is a landmark day for those who, for more than 30 years, have worked to reduce the number of abortions performed in…”

“this is a landmark day for those who, for more than 30 years, have worked to reduce the number of abortions performed in America. With today's vote on the Conference Report to accompany S. 3, The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, we are finally closing in on the first statutory restriction on abortions--that is, other than appropriations restrictions--since the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade. I urge our colleagues in the other body to join the House in quickly passing the Conference Report and sending it to the President for signature. This is also a good day for the legislative process, the art of compromise. Today we set aside our differences on various nuances of abortion and move by a decisive vote to ban a particular procedure, which--regardless of our differing views on the findings of Roe v. Wade--most of us find repugnant. Because of what we do here today, there will be fewer abortions, more adoptions, and more healthy births in years to come in the United States. I take great comfort in that knowledge.”