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[Pages H1353-H1354]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ABORTION AND INFANTICIDE ARE NOT WOMEN'S HEALTHCARE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from
North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for 5 minutes.
Ms. FOXX of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, abortion and infanticide are
not examples of women's healthcare.
Abortion advocates used to say they wanted abortion to be safe,
legal, and rare. Today, they want abortion to be free, casual, and for
newborns.
It is distressing to see the new levels of disregard they hold for
new human lives and how their language has fostered such numbness to
the moral evil of abortion that there is now space in society to openly
promote infanticide.
The Reproductive Healthcare Act, RHA, law being celebrated by pro-
abortion activists in New York and Virginia's Repeal Act bill, which is
supported by pro-abortion activists, legislators, and Governor Northam,
are horrifying indicators of that attitude and the spreading culture of
death.
This time, pro-abortionists have gone farther than ever before, by
their own admission. Their actions fly in the face of the limits of
abortion that most Americans support and lay bare the extreme agenda of
the pro-abortion movement. Not only are they bent on the systematic
removal of any protections for the unborn that exist in law, now they
admit that they support infanticide.
The sponsor of Virginia's bill said that a baby could be ``aborted,''
i.e., murdered, as he or she is being born. This should be a moment for
reflection on the reality of the atrocities being committed in the name
of so-called women's healthcare.
These extreme and disgusting advances by abortion advocates expose
the reality of our culture's view of human dignity writ large. Society
can't allow these actions to go unchallenged and still believe that the
culture supports human dignity.
With their language, abortion advocates have been successful at
dehumanizing the unborn and devaluing human life itself. The Repeal Act
would further ensure that the life of a child remains unseen by
repealing ultrasound requirements and the State's 24-hour waiting
period before an abortion. It is as though society's ``ignorance is
bliss'' mentality is a requisite for abortion advocates' agenda to
strip unborn life of protection.
Thanks to the tragic decision of Roe v. Wade, abortion can be
performed in the U.S. in all 9 months of pregnancy for any reason
related to a mother's health. The RHA preserves and expands Roe v.
Wade's guarantees of access to abortion.
In New York, an abortionist no longer need be a licensed physician,
and if an abortion is not successful and the child is born alive, the
law has an absolutely barbaric provision that ensures the child still
dies.
The RHA repeals section 4164 of New York's public health law. That
section required abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy be performed in
a hospital and that abortions performed after 20 weeks have a separate
physician ready to provide medical care for any infant born alive
during the procedure.
This repealed section also protected children born after a botched
abortion and required records to be kept of the infant's medical
treatment. Without section 4164, infants who survive in an attempt to
kill them in the womb have no legal right to life and could be denied
the care they need to live.
It is clear that the value of life has eroded in our culture. Without
a society that questions ``what are the rights of the unborn?'' New
York and Virginia legislators can use their power to eliminate the
right to life and promote the idea that life is dispensable, even in
the case where a child is viable and the mother's life is not in
danger.
Nothing warrants the evil of infanticide, yet calling abortion
healthcare has become a widespread and acceptable justification for a
woman to choose abortion over life. Meanwhile, supporting unborn life
has come to mean being against women's choices.
As a woman and proud pro-lifer, I reject this deceptive language and
the false narrative it perpetuates. I also encourage proponents of the
New York and Virginia legislation to ask whether these policies reflect
a society where women are truly valued or where unwanted babies are
indefensible.
[[Page H1354]]
Finally, in a culture where aborted babies are collateral damage in
so-called women's healthcare, we should all fear that, following unborn
children and newborns, there will soon be new targets for disposal.
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