Issue Position: Abortion

Issue Position

As an obstetrician who has delivered nearly 5,000 babies, I strongly support the sanctity of life. As a member of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, I will always be a strong and constant voice for the right to life.

I am a proud cosponsor of and voted for H.R. 7, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act, which provides a cohesive framework for prohibiting government funding for abortion, when it passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 242 to 179 on January 22, 2015. This legislation also closes any loopholes in the president's health care law that provide funding for abortion or subsidies for health plans that include abortion coverage. H.R. 7 would provide the necessary protections for innocent life as well as protecting the conscience rights of thousands of health care professionals.

I am also a cosponsor of H.R. 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would prohibit abortions from being performed on any unborn child twenty weeks or more into development, with exceptions for the mother's safety and instances of rape or incest. I have seen firsthand that after twenty weeks of development, babies have fingers, toes and some even begin to hiccup. They have developed nerve centers for their senses, meaning they can hear, taste, smell, see, and most importantly feel. In the 113th Congress, I voted for identical legislation that passed the House of Representatives, but it was not considered by the Senate. I hope the House reconsiders this legislation soon.

I am also an original cosponsor of H.R. 217, the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, which prohibits organizations that offer abortions from receiving Title X family planning funds.

History shows that direct federal funding for abortion increase the number of abortions. Abortion is not health care; it is a brutal procedure that ends the lives of unborn children and wounds their mothers.

Life is a precious miracle from God that begins at conception. Advanced technology like the 3-D ultrasound shows unborn children as living, breathing, feeling human beings. We must make our laws consistent with our science and provide full legal protections to the unborn. We have a responsibility and privilege as legislators to defend those who do not have a voice. If government has any legitimate function at all, it is to protect the most innocent among us, and I will do my best to uphold that protection.

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