Nita Lowey: “My colleagues, we have heard a lot today about love, parental responsibility, family values. Oh, I wish we could…”

“My colleagues, we have heard a lot today about love, parental responsibility, family values. Oh, I wish we could legislate those values here in this Congress but, unfortunately, we cannot. As a mother of three, as a grandmother of two, as many of my colleagues said, we hope and pray that our children will confide in us, speak to us when serious challenges face them in their lives. Not every family is Ozzie and Harriet. There are many young people who do not feel that they have parents they can confide in. Maybe they are lucky. Maybe they have a grandmother they can talk to in their hour of crisis. Maybe they have an aunt. Maybe they have a sibling that they can confide in. Yet in this bill we are going to say to that young woman in her moment of greatest need, when she has to make a very, very difficult decision, "Don't go to your grandmother. Don't go to your aunt. Don't go to your dear friend." And we are saying, "It's okay to go to a judge." And in 12 minutes that judge is going to make this decision. Twelve minutes. Let me tell my colleagues something. First of all, there are five States that do not even have a judicial bypass. Five States that do not have a judicial bypass. And some judges have never granted this authority. We have facts. This is a fact.”