On the recordJuly 22, 2015
I stand before you today with a heavy heart. Recently, videos have been released showing senior employees at Planned Parenthood discussing a horrific topic: the proper way to preserve the heart, liver, and lungs of a child during an abortion in order to harvest those organs for sale. Consider the illogical nature of the conclusion that an infant is not a life, that an infant is not worthy of preservation, but the organs, which give it life, are worthy enough to be kept and sold. Pro-life or not, this should strike at the conscience of every human being, and, in a larger sense, it should strike at the conscience of a nation that this practice is permitted and allowed. Following the release of these videos, House leadership called for an investigation into Planned Parenthood, which I commend and fully support. I am often asked back home if I consider myself pro-life and, if so, why. My answer to them is simple: I will never forget hearing my daughter's heartbeat for the first time. That heartbeat had a name, and its name was Colby. ____________________
