Prohibiting Federal Funding of Planned Parenthood Federation of America--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. DAINES. I thank the Senator from Oklahoma for having this colloquy today because I do believe we are at a crossroads. With this vote we will have in about 20 minutes, we have a choice set before us, one that each one of us must make as a Senator and one that each American must make with us.

With a ``yes'' vote--a ``yes'' vote is to defund Planned Parenthood--we reaffirm our dedication to women's health. In fact, we recommit every dollar made available to support things such as well-baby care, cervical and breast cancer screening, prenatal and postpartum care, immunizations, family planning services, including contraception, sexually transmitted disease testing, and relevant diagnostic, laboratory, and radiology services.

This bill does not take a single dollar away from women's health. I think it is very important, as we debate this decision in front of us, that we do not get caught up in rhetoric. Let's get focused on the facts, on what this does and what it does not do. This is a vote about our culture. This is a vote about our ethics. Most importantly--and I say this as a daddy of four children, two boys and two girls--this is about the value of our children.

Over the last few weeks, we have seen these videos. Americans have been horrified at high-level Planned Parenthood executives who are callously discussing the price of baby organs harvested from the tiny bodies of aborted babies. In fact, just last week we witnessed an abortion doctor poking through the pieces of a tiny and broken body. He was pointing out the heart and lungs and discussing what each of them should cost when sold, meanwhile exclaiming it is a baby.

We have heard so many arguments today: Well, this is about the woman's body. We respect the body of the woman, and we want to make sure that the proper services are allowed to protect a woman's health. But this is not about the woman's body. This is about a different body with a different DNA. This is about a little baby--a baby who now has a price not just on its head but on literally every part, as these videos exposed.

When we place a price on the outcome of the destruction of our children, we incentivize it. In another setting, we would call this price-per-specimen arrangement a bounty scheme, because with potential for such financial gain, there is little wonder why there are 149 abortions to every 1 adoption referral at these clinics--149 abortions to every 1 adoption referral at these clinics.

The discussions we heard are not exceptions or even the actions of a single clinic. This is a systemic issue within Planned Parenthood. We heard direct testimony that clinics act in concert, with the consent of their corporate headquarters at Planned Parenthood, and that no single clinic acts alone.

We learned that an overarching legal department works to build layers upon layers of defenses so that no one clinic is left holding the bag. Such a culture shows little regard for women's health. This is a culture that has been embroiled in a number of lawsuits about making false reimbursement claims to the Federal Government and helping to facilitate the covering up of sexual abuse and statutory rape. In fact, just last week a complaint was filed with the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies against one of these clinics regarding a little 13-year-old girl who was sexually abused, had an abortion, and was returned to her abuser. No report was made by the clinic or the abortionist. Her parents were not contacted--all in violation of the laws of Colorado.

So a ``no'' vote on this bill supports this culture. It devalues both the woman and that tiny little baby, that child.

We do have a choice today. We can work to change that culture if we choose to vote for women, if we would choose to vote yes, because a ``yes'' vote redirects--again, let's get the facts straight here and separate them from the rhetoric--funds from Planned Parenthood and provides that money for women's health services to the numerous community health centers.

You heard Senator Paul talk about 9,000 community clinics around the country versus 700 Planned Parenthood centers. It would provide these dollars to those clinics, to local clinics, to hospitals, to other providers that already serve the majority of women.

I must tell you I was deeply disturbed--as a daddy of four--with this most recent video where a doctor pokes around the aborted baby's parts until she finds the legs, and she shouts and exclaims: It is another boy.

There can be no denying what she was saying. We hear those words for the first time. I heard those words for the first time from a doctor during an ultrasound when Cindy and I were seeing the doctor as we were pregnant or in that ecstatic phone call that comes from an expecting mom or as the new father takes that newborn son into his arms. That doctor was the same one to say: It is a baby.

There is no doubt that this is what the little boy is; it is a baby.

I cannot support an organization that would place a dollar amount on body parts. I cannot support an organization that would incentivize his death. That is why I will vote for this bill, and my vote will be a vote for women's health.

To be very clear, this bill won't touch 1 cent of funding for women's health--not 1 cent. That means that this vote is for one thing and one thing only. A ``yes'' vote is a vote for women. It is a vote for our children. I urge my colleagues: Let us vote for women. Let us vote for our children. Let us vote yes.

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