[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 10 (Thursday, January 18, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S190-S191]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MARCH FOR LIFE
Mr. THUNE. Madam President, as they have for 50 years now--in rain,
in cold, sunshine and snow--pro-life Americans will take to the streets
of Washington, DC, tomorrow to march for life. They come by the tens of
thousands from all across the country, in buses, in cars, and on
planes. Young people--so many young people--and Americans of every age,
from every walk of life, come to Washington, DC, for a simple reason:
to testify to the truth enshrined in our declaration, that all men and
women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain inalienable rights, and among those are the right to life, to
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
And that right to life applies to every person, not just those the
pro-abortion movement thinks should be allowed to be born--every
person, born and unborn.
At some level, I think everyone knows the truth of what abortion is:
the killing of an innocent human being. The pro-abortion movement and
the Democratic Party--unfortunately, one and the same these days--have
tried to obscure this truth. They do everything they can to avoid
talking about the reality of the issue. But I think even they are well
aware that when we are talking about abortion, we are talking about the
killing of a human being.
I think they are well aware that a 7-pound unborn baby is just as
human and just as worthy of life as a 7-pound baby who has already been
born. But although I think everyone knows the reality of the issue, it
can be easy to ignore or forget the fact that every year in this
country, hundreds of thousands of babies are being killed by abortion.
And when I say ``hundreds of thousands,'' I mean hundreds of
thousands. The pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute reports that ``In the
first 10 months of 2023, there were an estimated 878,000 abortions in
the formal U.S. healthcare system''--878,000. To put that number in
perspective, 878,000 is more than the entire population of some U.S.
States. That is a lot of lives lost, a lot of love lost; and we cannot
afford to forget that this is happening.
And, every year, the March for Life provides us with the powerful
reminder. The March for Life is a vast assembly of Pro-lifers and, as I
said, a powerful witness.
But it is just one facet of the pro-life movement. An even bigger
work, an even bigger focus, I might add, of the pro-life movement is
offering hope and help to moms in need. That goes on every day in every
State around the country at pregnancy resource centers, at maternity
homes, where moms have access to the resources they need to care for
their babies and to get on their feet--at churches, on college
campuses, and in many other places. Supporting moms and babies is what
the pro-life movement does, and it is what it will continue to do no
matter how many obstacles are placed in its way.
Madam President, I am committed to doing everything I can in
Washington to protect babies and to support the work of the pro-life
movement, whether that is opposing pro-abortion rules from the
administration or working to advance legislation like my Born-Alive
Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would require that babies born
alive during a botched abortion be granted the same medical care as any
other baby would be.
I am grateful to all of my colleagues who stand up for life here in
Congress and the countless Americans who spend each day standing up for
moms and their babies.
Today, I want to especially thank all of those who will march through
the streets of Washington tomorrow to remind us all of the reality of
abortion and the importance of defending the right to life.
Given the grim reality of abortion, it would be no surprise if the
mood at the March for Life each year were somber. But I am always
struck by the hope and enthusiasm that emanates from so many of the
marchers, especially the young people. I think it is because the
marchers know that no matter how long and how hard the battle, at the
end of the day, life will win.
I firmly believe that, and I look forward to the day when we fully
live up to our founding principles and ensure that the right to life of
every American, born and unborn, is respected.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
Mr. LANKFORD. Madam President, it is January. It is cold outside. In
fact, it is snowing outside here in Washington, DC, today and tomorrow.
It is late January, which means what it has meant for the last five
decades: Pro-life Americans will gather by the hundreds of thousands in
Washington, DC, and will converge on this city to say: We think every
child is valuable.
Now, I have to tell you, every march I have been to--and I have been
to a lot--they are all cold. They don't all have snow. This one will,
but it won't dampen the spirits for a lot of students, leaders, moms,
dads, and little ones who will come just to be able to say: We are in
America, and we think life is valuable. We think children are precious.
We think this is an important issue.
We haven't always had a March for Life. We had one for 50 years,
actually. Interestingly enough, when Nellie Gray and some other pro-
life leaders organized the March for Life starting after 1973--after
the Roe v. Wade decision--they were recognizing an anomaly in American
law.
Our Nation has been a nation almost 250 years, but abortion was only
mandated in every State and every place just during that short time
period under Roe v. Wade. For the other two centuries of our Nation,
this issue about the value of life was decided in every State and among
the people.
That is what has occurred again. We still have abortion in America.
It is happening all over the country. But individuals are rising up and
saying: Our State, our leaders, and even this Congress needs to have a
conversation about when is a child a child and when does a child become
valuable in our culture and when is a child disposable in our culture,
and which child can be disposed of and which child is celebrated.
I love this side-by-side picture here. I don't know if you can really
see it. This is an ultrasound that is actually happening in the womb,
with this baby in this position with arms up over her head.
And a baby sleeps like that. In fact, both of my daughters often
slept like that. We called that the ``touchdown position,'' when their
hands were raised over their head. It is funny to be able to see this
picture and ultrasound of this child in the womb sleeping just like the
same way they would later sleep in the crib.
Do you know why? Because there is no difference between these two
babies. That is a baby then, and that is a baby then. The only
difference is time. The only difference between myself right now and
myself 9 months ago was time--9 months of time. The only difference
between this child in the womb and that child lying in a crib is just a
little bit of time.
There are literally millions of Americans who have this very simple
perspective. We should--as the march says this year--march with every
woman, for every child, and we should stand up for those individuals
and to be able to honor those families. We march in support of
pregnancy resource centers, those folks who are walking with women
through very difficult decisions and through very hard moments.
There was a recent study done on pregnancy resource centers in just
2022 that found that $359 million were donated to individuals through
pregnancy resource centers all over the country. Those are diapers and
wipes. Those are baby formulas. That is car seats. That is free
ultrasounds. That is free pregnancy tests. That is after-abortion
support. And, sometimes, it is strollers and clothes.
A vast majority of those individuals who work at these pregnancy
resource centers are heroes, volunteers who give their time. They have
full-time jobs, tasks with families and in other places, but they value
every single child, even the children they don't know and love. They
would donate their time and their money and their effort just to be
able to say that child is just as valuable as that child; and that, in
America, we
[[Page S191]]
shouldn't pick and choose which child is precious and which child is
disposable. We should just say we all are.
This administration has been exceptionally aggressive on taking on
this issue of life, pushing back from the very beginning. For instance,
there is a nurse who was in the process of dealing with her employer
because this nurse had informed the hospital that she worked with that
she was personally opposed to abortion--morally, personally opposed to
abortion. She was told: You won't have to participate in abortion. You
have a conscience-right protection under U.S. law that individuals
can't be compelled to have an abortion.
She worked at this hospital until one day she had a doctor and a
nurse who actually compelled her to participate in an abortion or she
would lose her job. She was not allowed to be able to have her
conscience without losing her job.
That was in the course of litigation. In the earliest days of the
Biden administration, that litigation was just dismissed, saying: We
understand. It is Federal law that you should have conscience
protections. But we don't agree with your opinion, and so you don't get
conscience protections, only people we agree with.
That is wrong.
In my State, funding from this administration was cut off in my State
for AIDS testing, for screenings, for breast cancer evaluations. That
money was Federal dollars allocated to my State to help in healthcare
in rural communities. That money was cut off by this administration. Do
you want to know why? Because our State would not promote abortion. And
the determination was made that you won't get Federal assistance for
AIDS testing or for breast cancer screening or for assistance in your
county health departments. We are going to cut your funds off for that
if your State chooses not to promote abortion.
Our State stepped up and said: We believe every child is valuable--
both of those kids--and we will find a way to do it on our own.
In the meantime, this administration is cutting off funds for AIDS
testing because they don't like people in our State, our opinion about
the value of life. This administration has just proposed to cut off
temporary assistance for needy families to pro-life centers. As I
mentioned before, some of these pregnancy resource centers give out
food, clothing, and assistance. They have been a part of the TANF
Program for years and years and years.
This administration proposed to be able to cut them off to say: If
you assist families but also don't promote abortion, you can't actually
assist families. You are not one of us.
They are literally telling to those Americans that you don't agree
with the administration. So you don't count because you are actually
trying to protect life. We won't help you do that.
This administration is currently trying to use the Emergency Medical
Treatment and Labor Act to force doctors to provide abortions, even
though that law that they are using specifically and explicitly
protects pregnant moms and unborn children. But they are currently
trying to be able to twist it the other way.
This administration is currently fighting an issue on chemical
abortions--chemical abortions that have been around for years. That is
a two-drug cocktail where the first drug actually disconnects the child
from the connection in the womb and starves them. The second pill
causes that delivery. It causes the contraction of the uterus, and they
have an abortion at home. It is a do-it-yourself kit for at home.
For years, that has been a very specific issue. There was only a
certain specific time period that you could actually use that drug
cocktail, knowing that if the child was just a few weeks older, it
causes a real danger to the mom. Or if this was an ectopic pregnancy,
it could actually take the life of that mom. Or if the mom has the
wrong blood type, it could cause the mom not to be able to have
children in the future.
In the past, a physician would have to connect with that mom before
they would get this drug cocktail. This administration has continued to
fight to say: No, they don't need to see a physician. They can just get
it mailed to them.
And in a situation with an ectopic pregnancy, literally, the side
effects from having the do-it-yourself abortion at home may look
similar to the side effects of an ectopic pregnancy, but there is no
way to know unless you get that ultrasound. And they will never know.
Listen, I am fully aware that this administration is aggressive about
trying to provide more abortions in the country. Why would they put
women's lives at risk to be able to make it more convenient to be able
to have an abortion?
It is January. We are talking about this issue of abortion because
the March for Life is happening. But there are literally millions of
Americans all around the country who are going to continue to be able
to talk about this issue of life in every way that they can because
they look at these two children--literally, a few weeks apart--and they
think both of them are valuable. I don't think that is a radical
concept.
We live in a culture in America that is committed to tolerance,
acceptance, and diversity, but it seems to be so for every area except
for that child. That child doesn't get to have tolerance, acceptance,
and be welcomed into a culture. That child is sometimes determined to
be disposable.
I want to say to the millions of Americans who see both of these kids
and who think both of them are valuable: Continue to be able to love
people, to be able to walk alongside those moms, to be able to
encourage in every way that you can because, as a culture, as we keep
talking about this issue, more and more people will look at these two
pictures and will say: You are right. They both look like children to
me. Why don't we treat them equal?
That is what we should be all about as a country, and that is why we
march every cold January.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
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