Jerry Nadler: “Mr. Speaker, cigarettes are harmful to one's health and may kill one. They are certainly much more harmful than…”

“Mr. Speaker, cigarettes are harmful to one's health and may kill one. They are certainly much more harmful than marijuana or some of the other drugs which are prohibited by law; and maybe cigarettes ought to be prohibited by law, and certainly that kind of advertising should be prohibited by law. Abortions are not in the same category. Abortions will not kill the woman. They are not generally harmful to her health. In fact, the statistics are that it is more dangerous to carry a pregnancy to term than it is to have an abortion because a larger percentage of women die from complications of child birth than from complications from abortion. I am certainly not arguing for abortions for that reason, but I am saying that we cannot say that abortions are life threatening, although demagogues do say that.”