W. Todd Akin: “I think those of us that have served in public office at all know that when you come to the abortion question, there are…”

“I think those of us that have served in public office at all know that when you come to the abortion question, there are two very highly charged and two different views on this subject. Some people think that abortion should be legal and that it is a matter of a human right and somebody's choice. Other people think that abortion is wrong and it is a form of murder. There are people in our country and in each of our districts that hold both of these views with a great deal of tenacity. But the question before us today is really not the question of abortion. We are not going to address this underlying issue. What we are talking about instead, the question is as to whether we protect various health care organizations or individuals, whether we want to protect their right to have a choice, to even have an opinion on the subject. What is going on here is that the abortion agenda is not really content with choice. The only choice that they are content with is that everybody has to agree with them and that we are going to compel someone else to that choice. It is always understood, I think, by most reasonable people that one person's rights stop where another person's rights start. But that is not the case here. Instead, the right of some health care organization to have an opinion on this subject is going to be hammered by the big fist of government. That is not reasonable.”