Louise Slaughter: “I am saddened beyond measure every time we debate this issue. Every one of us who has been brought up by a woman that we…”

“I am saddened beyond measure every time we debate this issue. Every one of us who has been brought up by a woman that we consider brilliant and wonderful suddenly decides here that the women in the country do not have any sense at all and, if this Congress did not act, they might do something really dreadful. Well, for all of my colleagues who have never had the honor of carrying a baby, let me say it does not work that way. Women who undergo this procedure want these babies desperately. The fact that at almost the point of birth they find that they cannot carry that baby to term is heartbreaking for them. Mr. Speaker, I pray that none of my colleagues, and none of their family members, ever have to reach that decision. But for heavens sake, I do not believe it is the province of the House of Representatives to determine whether or not that woman can get that procedure.”