Expressing the Sense of Congress Condemning the Recent Attacks on Pro- Life Facilities, Groups, and Churches

Floor Speech

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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 5, I call up the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 3) expressing the sense of Congress condemning the recent attacks on pro-life facilities, groups, and churches, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

The Clerk read the title of the concurrent resolution.

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Mr. JORDAN. Con. Res. 3.

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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, the FACE Act prohibits threats of force, obstruction, and property damage intended to interfere with reproductive healthcare services. Let me just go over that again. It prohibits threats of force, obstruction, and property damage intended to interfere with reproductive healthcare services.

The Justice Department has said that this act is not just about abortions but applies, as well, as to ``pro-life pregnancy counseling services and other pregnancy support facilities providing reproductive healthcare.''

So it applies across the board.

Here is the problem. On May 8, 2022, Mother's Day, activists targeted a pro-life, nonprofit center in Madison, Wisconsin, setting it ablaze and vandalizing it with the words, ``If abortions aren't safe then you aren't either.''

On June 3, 2022, leftwing anti-life activists targeted the Capitol Hill Crisis Pregnancy Center throwing red paint on the door, eggs at the window, and spray painting the window with, ``Jane says revenge.''

On June 25, 2022, in Longmont, Colorado, vandals graffitied and set fire--set fire--to the Life Choices free pregnancy center.

This has happened dozens and dozens and dozens of times all across the country.

What has the Justice Department done?

To my knowledge, no one has been prosecuted on the FACE Act--not one single person, to my knowledge.

But, oh, Madam Speaker, if you are a pro-life activist and you are praying outside an abortion clinic, like Mark Houck, then guess what happens to you?

The FBI kicks in your door, arrests you, puts you in handcuffs, and does it in front of your wife and seven children. That is what happens.

Madam Speaker, we don't want violence anywhere. As Mr. Cicilline said in his 1-minute speech, we don't want any violence anywhere. But let's not have this double standard.

Not to mention this: Think about what happened after the Dobbs decision was leaked, the leak draft of that opinion; we had activists protesting at every Supreme--well, not every one because only the conservative Justices' names were doxed, and information put out there. We had protests at their homes. In direct violation of the statute 18 U.S.C. 1507: You are not supposed to be protesting and interfering when a decision is pending in front of a Supreme Court Justice's home.

This was a direct violation of the statute, and, again, nothing happened.

That situation, as we all know, got real serious. It got real serious with the assassination attempt on Justice Kavanaugh.

So this resolution is straightforward.

What has happened literally now at hundreds of crisis pregnancy centers and churches around the country this past year is just flat-out wrong. This is a resolution that says that we appreciate the good work that happens at crisis pregnancy centers where they take in women and where they help them and help that unborn child and make sure that that unborn child gets to experience the gift of life.

The sanctity of life is what this is all about.

I commend my colleague and friend, Mr. Johnson, from the great State of Louisiana for this resolution and the people across the country who volunteer and who work every day at these centers to help these ladies who are in a tough situation.

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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

What purpose? It says it right in the title: ``Expressing the sense of Congress condemning the recent attacks on pro-life facilities, groups, and churches.''

Over 100 churches and pro-life facilities have been attacked in the last 7 months. That is all this resolution does.

Republicans condemn violence every time it happens. We condemn it when it happens to abortion clinics. We condemn it when it happens to churches. We condemn it when it happens to pro-life centers. We condemned it when it happened in the summer of 2020 all over the country. We condemned it when it happened on January 6. We condemn it every single time.

This is just highlighting what has happened in the last 7 months with churches and pro-life centers around the country. It is that simple. This should be unanimous.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Johnson), my friend and the sponsor of this great legislation.

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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I point out to my friend from Tennessee that it is not that I believe the DOJ has the ability to use the FACE Act to prosecute people who vandalize and attack crisis pregnancy centers; they have said it. The Department of Justice says they can do that. I am just asking why they haven't.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Carl), my good friend.

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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Wenstrup).

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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Tiffany).

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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Guest).

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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from the great State of Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman).

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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), a pro-life leader and good friend.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, two women spoke at a pregnancy care center dinner I attended in New Jersey.

Both women were effusive in their thanks that the director had approached them in absolute kindness and empathy as they were literally walking from the parking lot to an abortion clinic. They changed their minds and were helped through their pregnancies and after the birth of their children, as well.

Later in the program, two young, teenaged girls spoke of the sanctity of life and the good work of the pregnancy care center. In a very dramatic moment from the podium--because they were standing side by side--they turned to the director, thanked her, and said that had she not reached out to their moms that day and followed up with such love and compassion, both of them would have been dead.

Pregnancy care centers across the country have suffered a surge of violent attacks, firebombing and vandalism by pro-abortion activists in a coordinated effort to intimidate frontline volunteers and licensed medical professionals providing critical support to mothers in need and their unborn baby girls and boys.

Now more than ever the Biden administration and law enforcement needs to enforce the law.

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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Rose).

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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Bishop).

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, attacks on churches and pro-life pregnancy centers are unconscionable and un-American.

Thugs elevate their extreme political ideology over the most basic gift from God: Life. This phenomenon is fed from here.

We all recall Senator Schumer's threat to Supreme Court Justices that they ``will pay the price.'' Now we see the price: firebombing pro-life pregnancy centers and assassination attempts.

In my own State there is rhetoric amid the broken windows, red paint, and anarchist symbols. ``If abortions aren't safe, neither are you.'' That sentence is repeated over and over across this country. That is a threat. This is the death cult's echo of the KKK's burning cross on the lawn; brazen, violent intimidation. The Federal Government responded to the KKK.

Where is the Biden Justice Department amid this violent campaign of national scope?

Mr. President, it is time for action. Do your duty.

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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Georgia (Mrs. Greene).

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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg).

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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Buck).

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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Wagner).

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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for closing.

Madam Speaker, I just want to read what the resolution says: That Congress condemns recent attacks, over 100 of them in the last 7 months, on pro-life pregnancy centers and churches; condemns recent attacks of vandalism, violence, and destruction against pro-life facilities, groups, and churches.

Second, it recognizes the sanctity of life, the important role pro- life facilities, groups, and churches play in supporting pregnant women, infants, and families.

Three, it calls upon the Biden administration to use all appropriate law enforcement authorities to uphold public safety and protect the rights of pro-life facilities, groups, and churches.

That is all it says. This is as apple pie as it gets. The hundreds of churches and crisis pregnancy centers that have been attacked in the last 7 months, this resolution says: Biden administration, use the FACE Act, which you have said applies not just to pro-abortion clinics but also to pro-life crisis pregnancy centers, use that to make sure we can stop this stuff from happening in the future.

We condemn all violence every time it happens. Here is what is interesting: The violence that has been cited by the other side against abortion clinics and people associated with them, guess what? Those individuals were prosecuted, and we support that.

What we want to know is why. With over 100 attacks, why hasn't the Justice Department, to my knowledge, used the FACE Act to prosecute anybody? Why?

They say there is no political nature at the Justice Department now; there is no weaponization. Really? Because it sure looks like there is a conflict here. Sure looks like there is a double standard here. This resolution is as basic as it gets.

Madam Speaker, I urge support, hope this thing passes unanimously, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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