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Floor Speech

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Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, I want to start by thanking the Senator from Nebraska for helping to bring to light the significance of the Dobbs Supreme Court case.

For some 30 years, I had the honor, the privilege of delivering a baby most every day of my life. Some 5,000 babies in residency and another 5,000 babies in private practice. Some days, I delivered none. Other days, it was one or two. There were days when I delivered 10, 11, 12 babies a day.

Some of those babies I could fit in the palm of my hand. Other babies--I delivered several babies over 15 pounds.

It has now been almost 4 years since I delivered my last baby, but I am still often asked: Do I miss obstetrics; and let me tell you, boy, do I miss it.

My favorite part of the whole process, as I recall, though, was after a hard, long labor, seeing that baby emerge from the mother, holding that baby in my hands and waiting for it to cry. Sometimes it was crying as it entered into this world, other times it took 5 seconds, sometimes 30 seconds, sometimes a minute or two would go by as we worked on the baby. But my favorite part of every pregnancy was taking that crying baby and handing it over to a new mom and dad. It was absolutely the most spiritual moment of my life--the closest I ever got to seeing what God was truly like, to see a newborn baby in the hands of its mom and dad, with this just total agape love--this unconditional love. It was just the honor of my life to experience that almost on a daily basis.

But today I want to talk about my favorite OB visit which came at 15 weeks, typically. At about 15 weeks after conception, moms would come in for maybe their third or fourth visit. My first question was always: Are you feeling the baby move? And the mom's eyes would light up. Maybe she had had a miscarriage before or maybe it was an infertile couple or maybe this was her third or fourth baby, but when I asked them: Are you feeling the baby move yet, her eyes would light up.

And mom would lie down on the bed, and I would put my hands on her abdomen and feel the size of her uterus to assess how big the baby was. And so often as I put my hands on her skin, I could feel the baby pushing back or kicking back.

And then we put the Doppler on the mom's abdomen and listened to the baby's heartbeat, and usually if there was a brother or sister in the room, that baby's big brother or big sister would squeal: Mommy, what is that noise? What is that noise? And almost every time, as I heard the sibling ask mom that question, you could hear the baby's heart rate increase with excitement. That baby inside the womb knew that was its brother or sister there that was talking, and it was excited to hear that voice. And the mom would respond: Darling, that is your little baby brother or sister. And as mom spoke, the baby's heart rate would slow back down to what it was before--that calming voice.

So that brings me to the Dobbs case. The Mississippi Dobbs case protects life after that 15-week visit I just described.

I recognize and believe that life begins at conception, but maybe not all of America agrees with me on that. But I do believe with all my heart that a huge part of America agrees, we should not allow abortions on babies that can feel pain or that can respond to their mom's voice or their sibling's voices. Right?

Ask yourself that same question. An unborn baby that can feel pain, that knows its mom's voice, should that baby be deprived of life outside the womb?

I struggle as I watch America be one of seven nations that allows abortions after 15 weeks. And I point out that all these other nations are agnostic or totalitarian nations for the most part. And I struggle as I recall the moms and dads who lost a baby at 15 weeks or at 18 weeks or at 23 weeks. I recall their mourning. I recall their tears.

I recall how, in our hospital, we might be struggling to preserve a pregnancy, to save a baby's life, to be resuscitating a baby while in a nearby town the abortion industry is claiming another life at this same gestational age.

I struggle to think we live in a society that allows this barbaric treatment of the unborn. We hope and pray that this landmark Supreme Court case will result in a decision that reflects the values of most Americans and will protect life after 15 weeks.

Unfortunately, because of a 2019 Kansas Supreme Court case, my home State of Kansas has become an abortion destination--an abortion destination. The Kansas Supreme Court has paved the way for unlimited abortions, abortions paid for with tax dollars. That is why, back home, I will be fighting for the Value Them Both Amendment that protects the values of both the mom and the baby.

Look, America does not want an unlimited, unregulated abortion industry. This is not consistent with our values. I believe most Americans value them both. We value both the mom and the baby. I fought my whole life for moms and babies, and I am going to keep fighting for them both.

I look forward to his sharing with us what Texans are talking about on the significance of this Dobbs Supreme Court case.

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