On the recordJuly 31, 2012
I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership in this area. Mr. Speaker, last week I became a grandfather for the first time. Seeing that defenseless little child for the first time reminded me just how precious life is and why we're morally obligated to protect it. H.R. 3803 would do just that, putting an end to a cruel practice taking place here in our Nation's capital. The infamous 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade relied upon medical knowledge that is now obsolete. Recent medical research and testing shows that an unborn child may have the capacity to experience pain starting as early as 20 weeks in the womb. In fact, in the 2004 case of Carhart v. Ashcroft, Dr. Sunny Anand was asked whether a fetus would feel pain in a common abortion procedure, dilation and extraction, also known as ``dismemberment abortion.'' He testified: ``If the fetus is beyond 20 weeks of gestation, I would assume that there will be pain caused to the fetus, and I believe that it will be severe and excruciating pain.'' We must stop that, and that's what this legislation would do.
