WASHINGTON,
D.C. – U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) delivered the following
statement during debate on H.R. 760, so called partial birth abortion bill:
Republicans
want small government – just small enough to fit inside your bedroom.
H.R.
760 forces government to step between pregnant mothers and their doctors,
interfering with a doctor’s ability to make the safest and healthiest decisions
for the mother.
Never
mind that this bill is certifiably unconstitutional.
Proponents
of this bill should be ashamed to go home to their wives, daughters, nieces,
sisters, and women constituents and explain to them why they voted for
a bill that not only blatantly disregards their health, but tried to claim
that it is not an issue; explain to them why they voted for a bill that
would criminalize the behavior of their doctors who acted in their best
interest because the law said that their health did not matter.
This
bill is not about late term abortion or even a so-called “partial-birth
abortion” procedure, which has no medical definition in this bill. This
bill is about banning safe abortion procedures that sometimes are the safest
method of pre-viability, second trimester abortions.
For
us to be true to the Constitution, to be true to the sentiments of equality
and freedom, women must have control over their bodies.
Instead,
proponents of this bill, including the Bush Administration, are using this
bill as part of a broader agenda to take away a women’s Constitutionally
guaranteed right to choose. This assault on a woman’s right to control
her body and her health must stop. |