Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership on this piece of legislation, which will, quite literally, save lives. I am so grateful that we are having this debate on the House floor at this point. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. I believe that every life, including an unborn baby's life, has dignity and value. But more than 40 years ago, the Supreme Court handed down a decision in direct contradiction to those principles. In the decades since, I have joined with many families and my colleagues in the House and many across the Nation fighting to undo the damage that has been done. We have got a long way to go in this country, but the passage of H.R. 36 would be a step in the right direction. A strong and growing body of medical research provides evidence that pain receptors develop in unborn babies at no later than 20 weeks. Medical professionals have testified about seeing babies that age recoil from painful stimuli. Others have been able to measure increases in stress hormones when babies inside the womb are subjected to pain. If fetal surgery is performed, that baby is given anesthesia in many cases to shield them from the pain of surgery. Yet our Nation's laws allow for these babies to endure the pain of a life-ending abortion. It is absolutely heartbreaking. My husband and I knew that our lives had completely changed the minute that we heard our oldest daughter's heartbeat.…”