On the recordOctober 1, 2020
I thank the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania for the time to speak as colead on this important resolution, to establish a thorough investigation. I know that we have colleagues across the aisle who want this investigation, and I ask them to join us today. Before having the privilege to serve in Congress, I was an adoption attorney for 25 years. I sat with 300 birth mothers as they make the most profound, private, and consequential decision of their lifetime. In America, the government should not interfere in this most personal and intimate decision. Any type of sterilization, without consent, is a shocking and wrong interference. I ask my colleagues: How many hysterectomies would be sufficient for a resolution? Would a partial hysterectomy without consent, for those who hold themselves out to be pro-life? These are women who want to have children. We can find common ground. In America, the government should not interfere, and that is why I and so many Members of this Congress were shocked and horrified, first, to read about the whistleblower complaint; then the expose in The New York Times, with even more detail; and, finally, to speak with our colleagues, the codel that took the time to go to Irwin, Georgia, over the weekend and to sit and speak with the women who have had unspeakable surgery on them without their consent or understanding.…
