Political Quotes

“the arguments made by the supporters tug at the heart strings of the Nation. Yet we, as legislators, know better. We know that the American people want us to do justice, not just pontificate, or what makes a great sound byte, or as a shelter for the lack of work we have done in other areas. I have to compliment my colleague, the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Mrs. Wilson), for such an elegant and heartwrenching speech and presentation. Yet she missed the point. It is possible to address the issues of H.R. 2436 without trespassing on the reproductive rights of women in this country. None of the opponents of this bill have argued that abortion can be prosecuted under this bill. They keep saying that we are saying that we do not want abortion dealt with so we are opponents of the bill. We have not argued that, because we see clearly in the bill it deals with setting aside abortion as a possible offense. But what we are arguing is that the bill is an effort to erode a woman's right to choose. And it is. They said it. They know it. The paper knows it. Everybody knows it. They are trying to erode Roe v. Wade. Now, the other thing that must be made clear is, in the Arkansas situation that was argued, in the North Carolina situation that was argued, those were State offenses and there were no underlying predicate acts. In fact, in this legislation that is being presented today on the floor, there is no underlying predicate act in this bill.”