Louise Slaughter: “I have been appalled time and time again by the audacity of antichoice legislators to restrict women's reproductive…”

“I have been appalled time and time again by the audacity of antichoice legislators to restrict women's reproductive options in the United States and worldwide. This annual right of, quote, ``we will show the women who is boss,'' end quote, legislation has allowed millions of women to die in the Third World. Mr. Chairman, we stand here every year; and we say 600,000 women die every year, and nobody bats an eyelash. Do not tell me that a poll of people in the United States would approve of that. If the question asked on that poll is would you like the international family planning law of the United States to allow 600,000 women to die, we would get a far different answer. The problem is that the harshest lesson that people learn about us is that we will allow them to die. Nothing else that we do in foreign aid, nothing else purposefully allows women to die. The truth of the matter is we will never hear a word here about the woman herself, because mothers do not matter. The children that she leaves motherless at home, they do not matter. The fact that there are unsanitary conditions in which they live do not matter. What matters is the policy and beliefs of some Members of this House, and I urge my colleagues to vote yes on the motion to strike.”