Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act Of 2009

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I respect very much Senator Martinez and Senator Brownback. Their views on the issue of abortion, I am sure, are a matter of conscience. They come to us to raise this issue which has been debated so many times in the Senate.

I say at this point in time that many of us who oppose abortion also believe that a woman should be able to make that choice with her family, with her doctor, with her conscience, and, of course, we believe in the first instance that family planning avoids unintended pregnancies. Unintended pregnancies lead to abortion. So reducing the number of unintended pregnancies is going to give women a chance to control their own lives and to reduce the likelihood of abortion.

It is the law of the United States of America, and it has been for many years, in a provision added in 1973 by Senator Jesse Helms explicitly banning the use of American taxpayer funds for overseas abortion. Unequivocally, that is the law. Regardless of the Mexico City policy, signed by President Obama or the situation before that, that is the law. Not one penny of taxpayers' dollars can be used to fund abortions overseas.

The issue here is whether an organization which also counsels women that they have an option for abortion is going to be denied these funds by this policy. Senator Martinez's amendment would deny them the funds to even offer family planning if they counsel a woman that abortion is an option. As Senator Boxer said, in the United States that is unacceptable.

You have to give doctors at least the opportunity, even if they do not perform an abortion, to tell a woman what her legal rights are. But that is what is at the core of this issue.

There are several points I would like to make about the importance of President Obama's decision.

First, when we provide family planning funds to organizations overseas that may counsel abortion but not spend a single U.S. dollar on abortions, when we provide that money, we literally reduce the number of abortions worldwide. A report by Guttmacher Institute and the U.N. Population Fund estimated that providing family planning services to the 201 million women in developing countries whose needs are unmet would prevent 52 million unintended pregnancies by family planning and 22 million abortions. So when you reduce the family planning, there are more unintended pregnancies and more abortions.

Secondly, an estimated 536,000 women, mostly in developing countries, die from pregnancy-related causes. By giving a woman family planning counseling, the pill or something similar, they will have access to contraception and pregnancy-related deaths will drop by 25 to 35 percent of women who would give birth.

Finally, the repeal would save the lives of children in many developing countries. Many of these women have successive pregnancies that they cannot control, and the children, sadly, are weaker and weaker because the mothers cannot restore their bodily strength before they have another child. That is the reality of this situation.

I will say, as I have traveled around the world with people such as Senator Brownback, the most important single question one can ask in a developing country is, How do you treat your women? We should treat the women of the world with respect. We should give them access to sound family planning. Let them plan their lives and plan their families. There will be fewer abortions, fewer maternal deaths, and fewer children dying as a result.

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Mr. DURBIN. I would say, through the Chair, that I am not one who celebrates the incidence of abortion in this country or anywhere. I wish to see far fewer abortions. But let's be honest. How do you reach that goal? You reach that goal by educating women and giving them opportunities to avoid unintended pregnancies. I think that is why this amendment is inconsistent with the sponsor's goal. If you want fewer abortions, give women an option, let them control their bodies and their lives, and let them make family decisions that are right for them, instead of being at the mercy of a situation they cannot control.

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