Political Quotes

“to address the letter the Senator from Michigan read, I want to assure the young lady who wrote that letter to the Senator from Michigan--and it is a very compelling story, one that has my sympathy, certainly--my heart goes out to her and her family for what she had to go through. Let me, please, assure her it is crystal clear from the language in the bill that what happened to her is not offered under this legislation. I will read it: The term partial-birth abortion means an abortion in which the person performing the abortion deliberately and intentionally vaginally delivered the living fetus. Here is the key operative language: delivered the living fetus for the purpose of performing an overt act that the person knows will kill the partially delivered living fetus. The doctor in that case, first off, did not perform an abortion, did not deliver the child for the purpose of killing the child. So it is clear beyond a shadow of a doubt--and we have discussed this at hearings and on the floor multiple times--there are obviously times, unfortunately and tragically, where a birth is either induced, or a natural delivery where complications arise, and for the life of the mother the pregnancy is terminated. That is obviously a horrible and tragic situation. That is clearly outside of the bounds of this definition.”