Rick Hill: “I rise to support the rule, and I also support the bill. I want to describe for the House again what this procedure is.…”

“I rise to support the rule, and I also support the bill. I want to describe for the House again what this procedure is. A doctor artificially dilates the cervix, creating an opening that is of adequate size for the baby's delivery. Then the doctor, guided by an ultrasound device, takes hold of one of the baby's legs with a forceps. Then that leg is pulled into the birth canal and is fully delivered. Then the other leg is accessed and it is delivered, followed by the baby's entire body, everything except the head. We would commonly refer to this as a breech delivery. The doctor then uses one hand to trace up the spine of the baby up to the base of the baby's skull. And then with a Metzenbaum scissors, the doctor penetrates the base of that skull with those scissors and spreads the scissors open to create a passage large enough for a suction catheter to be inserted into the skull. And then the baby's brains are extracted with the suction device, and that causes the skull to collapse. At that point, the baby dies. And then the baby is fully delivered. The placenta is subsequently delivered, and all the remains are then discarded as medical waste. The AMA, Mr. Speaker, says that this is not good medicine. Dr. Koop, former surgeon general, says this is never medically necessary. Everybody in this room knows that this is wrong, that it is not legally and it is not morally defensible.”