Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, we as a Nation treat bugs in a very unique way. There is a little bug called the American burying beetle. They are in many areas of the country. They are all over Oklahoma. In southeastern Oklahoma, in a lot of areas where there is commercial construction, we have to wait through the early part of the spring because, in the springtime, the American burying beetle lays little eggs and those eggs multiply in the ground and little bugs start crawling up. The folks at the Fish and Wildlife Service tell us not to step on those bugs because they could possibly be threatened, and construction needs to stop during the springtime so the Earth is not disturbed during that time period. We don't want to disturb the Earth because those eggs might be damaged, and we will have fewer of the American burying beetle.

I bring that up not because I am so enamored with that bug, but because our Nation has a history of protecting life--life wherever it may be--whether it is a burying beetle in southeastern Oklahoma or whether it is a child.

For some strange reason, in this room, the conversation tends to go more towards the American burying beetle and their eggs and protecting that bug than it is about protecting children. So I bring up today something that I don't think should be that controversial. What are we going to do with children who can feel and experience pain? Will we as a Nation guard children? That would be a pretty straightforward thing, I would say.

In 1973 the Supreme Court of the United States struggled with how to be able to define life. This whole conversation the Supreme Court had behind closed doors as they struggled with a decision that we now know as Roe v. Wade. In January of 1973, after struggling behind closed doors, the Supreme Court came out with a decision that was brand new to American law, coming from actually common law, and that was viability. What used to be in common law when they would discuss quickening, when the child could kick and move, they would now consider this child a child worthy of protection. They asked the question: When is it possible for a fetus to be alive? In January of 1973, they said they would have to leave it up to medical technology as to when that child would be viable.

Fast forward up to today. Let's talk about when a child is considered viable. Let's talk about what happens now. We know at 20 weeks that child can respond to different stimuli. That child feels pain. That child can respond to normal things that are happening around it. I can distinctly remember, with both of my daughters, my wife and I went in at 20 weeks to be able to look at the sonogram because at 20 weeks, that was the first time the doctor could say whether we were going to have a boy or a girl, and we could see the health of my two daughters. That was a big day for us, to be able to go in and see the sonogram and to know it is a girl and to be able to watch them move around in the womb, to dream about what her name would be and what they would look like. Now one daughter is in college, and one is in high school. But the first time I ever laid eyes on them, they were 20 weeks old, when we got a peak into the womb with the sonogram.

This bill asks a simple question, this bill that deals with pain-capable. This pain-capable bill asks the question: Is the child alive at five months, when the baby can kick, suck its thumb, stretch, yawn, make faces; when medical science tells us they can experience pain, is that child alive?

Recently The New York Times did a report studying this one issue about children that are born extremely early--at this exact time we are discussing right now--how many of the children that are born even that early make it. The New York Times' latest study said more than 25 percent of them make it.

Let me tell my colleagues about one of them. Her name is Violet. She is the daughter of a friend of mine. She is a pretty amazing young lady.

She was born at this exact date we are discussing, and she was born at 14 ounces. She would fit into your hand, less than a pound. That tiny little girl who had such a tough start is a 1-year-old now. She is not 14 ounces, she is 15 pounds and--thanks for asking--she is doing great. She is healthy and strong and she is beautiful. You ought to see her beautiful face with the bow on the top of her head--a sparkling little girl. She was born at 14 ounces.

I am asking our Nation to think about this again. The discussion in 1973 about viability needs to catch up to the science of today. At 14 ounces and at 5 months of gestation, that little girl is doing great. Yet in many places in our country--not all but in many places in our country--that child can still be executed in the womb and no one would bat an eye.

This is a conversation our Nation needs to have. I can't imagine it would be controversial to make a simple statement. When a child can feel pain, when a child is viable--even the Supreme Court from 1973 would look at this time period and say that is viability--at that moment, should we as a nation step up and protect children? This shouldn't be about whether a child can feel pain. We know that child can feel pain. It is not even about viability. We know that child is viable. In fact, I know her name. It is about when our laws catch up to our morals and to our science.

Late-term abortions in many areas of our country are already illegal. Let's address this. As a people and as a nation, I am asking a simple thing. When we know the child can feel pain, when we know they are viable, let's treat them as a child. Let's honor that child as alive, and let's say we don't do abortions when we know that child is viable. It is a straightforward issue that I hope will not be controversial. This is not about women's health. This is about the health of little boys and little girls who need our Nation to stay with them.

This bill we can pass. A lot of important things we are dealing with--the budget, the Iran nuclear negotiations--but can we not stop for a moment and say our Nation will guard our most vulnerable? Can we not protect our children? I think we can do both.

I yield back.

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