Melvin Watt: “I rise in support of sustaining the veto of the President on this bill. Mr. Speaker there is a tendency on the part of…”

“I rise in support of sustaining the veto of the President on this bill. Mr. Speaker there is a tendency on the part of some of my colleagues to try to divide folks into groups, based on their vote on this issue, of whether they support life or do not support life. I respectfully submit that no Member of this body supports death over life; that there are always difficult choices on a number of these votes. But we heard evidence submitted at hearings in the Committee on the Judiciary that indicated and confirmed that serious medical jeopardy can result to women, and that in some cases this procedure is the only procedure that is available in late-term abortion to save the life of the mother, to preserve the ability of the mother to have children in the future, to protect the health of a prospective mother in those situations. And when that occurs, to put the doctor and that mother in the position of saying, ``You will be a criminal if you exercise your right to protect yourself from serious health conditions, or to protect your reproductive capacity in the future, or protect even your life,'' I think is irresponsible. This is not, as some folks would suggest, an easy decision. It is always a difficult decision.”