Nita Lowey: “I say I have great respect for my colleagues who feel so strongly about the Hyde amendment, but I would like to repeat…”

“I say I have great respect for my colleagues who feel so strongly about the Hyde amendment, but I would like to repeat once again exactly why I am asking my colleagues to vote no on the Hyde amendment. Number one, the Hyde amendment reduces abortion funding from zero to zero. There is no abortion funding in any family planning legislation which we are proposing. The Hyde amendment will not reduce the number of abortions, it can only make them less safe. The Hyde amendment, in fact, may well increase the number of abortions, because we are denying poor women around the world the opportunity to get counseling and spacing their children to get family planning. The Hyde amendment violates medical ethics. It interferes in the doctor-patient relationship. The Hyde amendment punishes free speech and democracy. The Hyde amendment will strip language that respects United States law and laws in foreign countries. Mr. Chairman, I say to my colleagues, please read this carefully. Vote no on the Hyde amendment. Vote for free speech and democracy and the rights of the United States citizen. Let us not, let us not impose on others what we would not impose on our own.”