Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCARTHY. Madam Speaker, last week, the Judiciary Committee heard testimony from people who had survived abortions. They spoke as part of the House's ongoing investigation into the practices depicted in the horrific videos that we have all seen.

One of these people who spoke was Gianna Jessen. She told the committee that, when her biological mother was 7 1/2 months pregnant, she went to Planned Parenthood, where they advised her mother to have an abortion. That is what her mother did.

By a miracle--and despite the best efforts to end her life--Gianna was born alive; and because she was born before the abortionist had gotten into work, a nurse called an ambulance. Gianna was rushed to the hospital--and she lived--though she suffers from cerebral palsy because of the attempted abortion.

There are so many others who aren't as lucky as Gianna. The Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act--that is what we are voting on today--will help save the lives of those children. It would impose criminal penalties on any medical professional who fails to give the same medical attention to children born after an abortion as they would to any other premature newborn baby.

The simple fact is that, when a baby is born alive, it doesn't matter how he or she was born. They are living human beings who deserve our care.

We are also here today, Madam Speaker, to talk in particular about Planned Parenthood, the organization that tried to take Gianna's life. I think, for the purpose of this debate, it is very important to understand what this organization is.

Many on the other side say that they are just devoted to women's health. The facts say something different. In the last year on record, they performed 327,653 abortions. That was in 1 year. Anyone who tells you that they are not in the abortion business doesn't know that number.

Some defend them because they provide women's health services, but they don't have a monopoly on women's health. There are tens of thousands of alternatives all across the country for women, from community health centers to pregnancy health centers to maternity homes, medical clinics, and more. Community health clinics actually outnumber Planned Parenthood clinics by the thousands, and they offer the same health services to women, if not more.

If we know that this organization performs hundreds of thousands of abortions per year and we know that women have access to other sources for care, the question is: Should we force taxpayers to fund a business that spends

its money aborting 372,653 children per year? Should we force taxpayers to fund an organization whose barbaric practices, as vividly shown in those videos, disregard and devalue the sanctity of the most innocent human lives?

The gruesome videos that we have seen opened the eyes of America. As we struggle to understand how something so barbaric could happen in this country, we need to get all the facts. Are patients giving sufficient informed consent? Were the body parts of babies sold for profit?

These--and more--are the questions we need to answer. While we find those answers, we have a moral responsibility to put a moratorium on the funding. There is no reason the American people should be forced to give their money to such an organization. There is no reason--absolutely no reason--that we must choose between funding women's health and compelling taxpayers to support abortion.

As we approach this vote, I want every Member to ask themselves a simple question: In the face of these videos and with all the alternatives women have for health, why would you want to force your constituents to pay for something so evil?

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