Nita Lowey: “Mr. Speaker, last spring a woman came to my office with her infant son whom she loved, and you could tell the love was…”

“Mr. Speaker, last spring a woman came to my office with her infant son whom she loved, and you could tell the love was obvious. Tragically for this woman, this was not the first pregnancy she had had. She had lost a previous baby months along in the cycle through no fault of her own, and she had used this procedure after consulting with her husband, her family, and her doctor. Mr. Speaker, not very many women are forced to use this procedure. In 1992, the most recent year for which we have statistics, only 0.4 percent of all abortions take place after 26 weeks when this procedure becomes necessary. Like the women in my office, like the women that my colleagues have talked about today, every single one of these women who are facing these late-term procedures are facing threats to their life or threats to their health or they are carrying a fetus with severe abnormalities that will not survive. That is why the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists opposes this legislation even now, and that is why this piece of legislation is unconstitutional and should not be passed.”