Jim Inhofe: “I have a hard time with that, I say to my friend from Connecticut. Somehow, in protecting those with Down syndrome, you…”

“I have a hard time with that, I say to my friend from Connecticut. Somehow, in protecting those with Down syndrome, you are killing those with Down syndrome. Right now, I am really shocked that people would talk about protecting children. The previous speaker was from Pennsylvania. He had a bill on childcare and taking care of kids. Yet now we are talking about the fact that a baby, in having been diagnosed with having Down syndrome, somehow should be aborted. I can't think of how anyone could oppose this bill, especially because the American people overwhelmingly--70 percent of them--oppose aborting a child on the basis that the child would be born with Down syndrome. That includes 56 percent of the people who consider themselves to be pro-abortion people. Fifty-six percent of the people who support abortion oppose this on the basis of a Down syndrome diagnosis. In the United States, over two-thirds of the unborn babies diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted right now. Why? Instead of receiving information, resources, and support, mothers often resort to feeling pressure to abort. Justice Clarence Thomas put it a little bit more directly. He said: ``I am deeply concerned that for babies with Down syndrome, abortion has become `a tool of modern day eugenics.' '' That was from a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. My bill would protect these innocent lives from systematic discrimination through abortion. We say that we support equality in the United States.…”