Chris Smith: “I especially want to thank Michelle Fischbach for her leadership and compassion by offering and authoring this…”

“I especially want to thank Michelle Fischbach for her leadership and compassion by offering and authoring this legislation to protect pregnancy care centers from discrimination and to ensure that they can continue their important work of assisting families in need. Mr. Speaker, I was at a New Jersey pregnancy center dinner a few years ago when two women through tears of joy expressed their deep and abiding gratitude for the incredible love, respect, and care that persuaded them to reverse their decision to abort their babies. They spoke of how desperate, even hopeless, they were. They spoke about the pressure that they were under to abort until they met the director of the pregnancy resource center who reached out to both of them at different times but within about a month in a gentle and nonjudgmental way. They chose life and thanked God, the director, and the pregnancy resource center for helping them avert the loss of their precious babies' lives. Then, Mr. Speaker, two teenaged girls took to the podium and spoke about their lives: schools, sports, friends, and their reverence for the sanctity of human life. Near the end of their remarks, they turned toward the director of the center and thanked her for being there for their moms through those very difficult times and said: If you weren't there for them, we would be dead.”