An Unborn Child is A Human Life

Floor Speech

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Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the 2,500 unborn lives we lose to abortion each day who cannot stand for themselves. That is nearly half a million little boys and little girls in the United States alone this year. These numbers don't reflect, though, and take into consideration self-administered chemical abortions.

Last month, the Supreme Court announced what the pro-life movement was waiting half a century to hear: Roe v. Wade is overturned. As a proud pro-life grandfather of 10, I enthusiastically applaud the Justices for recognizing that this terrible relic from 1973 has no place in 2022.

Roe was both a legal and moral abomination from the beginning. It mocked our Nation's Constitution and paved the way for the abortion of more than 63 million innocent babies in the years since.

The men who first decided Roe invented the right to abortion out of thin air. By adding an extra line to our Constitution, they ignored one of the first sentences of the Declaration of Independence, which holds that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

With Roe in the dustbin of history, the abortion question returns to the democratic arena where it belongs. The most contentious of issues can now be properly debated and deliberated at both the Federal and State levels, where, ideally, the most logical and persuasive arguments can triumph and translate into new law.

Let us have clear eyes to see exactly what science shows us, that fetuses in the womb are human beings who develop with each passing second. These innocent children have their own DNA and soon develop hands, feet, eyes, and lips. They can also feel pain. Just as importantly, they have the potential to grow up, flourish, and achieve amazing dreams. Let us have the compassion to give them that chance.

For those of us in elected office who sincerely believe that human life is a sacred gift from God in need of society's protection, our position is no longer theoretical. We now have a pressing responsibility to examine how public policy can best be crafted to adequately accomplish our stated goal.

I believe we already have an answer. When an expectant mother visits a doctor for an ultrasound, the image of a beating heart is the first confirmation that a child has been conceived. When someone is involved in a severe accident, a medic will check right away to see if there is a pulse to make sure the victim is alive. In short, a heartbeat means a life.

Now, to legislate consistently with this truth, I introduced the Heartbeat Protection Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. This bill would legally prohibit future abortions from being performed if a preborn child's heartbeat can be detected, with the exception for when a mother's life is in danger. It is a science-based, humanity- respecting solution suited to the new landscape in which we find ourselves.

The post-Roe world is here. As legislators in each State determine the extent to which they wish to defend life, pro-life Members of Congress can simultaneously take action to make our beloved country a place where both children waiting to be born and their mothers are acknowledged and safeguarded.

Mr. Speaker, tonight, we have a very distinguished group of Members with us who will also speak on this subject. This doesn't have to turn into an angry debate. This doesn't have to turn into something that people get so upset with each other about that they can't even sit down and talk intelligently about what is going on.

If we cannot see the value of life every day in every single person, then what have we witnessed this year, just this summer--the horror that has taken place in our own cities, the loss of life that we have experienced, the sincere sorrow that this country feels. Yet, we have a blind eye and a deaf ear to the cries of the unborn.

Do they not deserve that same type of consideration that every human being deserves?

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Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Johnson.

I think we came into Congress in 2011 and it has been a pleasure serving with you. I appreciate your comments tonight on this very important issue.
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Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Grothman.

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Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Biggs.

We have been defending life for so long with such great patience and such great prayer. It has always been done in a peaceful manner.

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Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Again, I thank the Representative for being with us tonight. He is a great defender of life.

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Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Representative for his remarks. Tomorrow is a big day for all of us.

As we all ponder tonight what tomorrow will bring, I thank Mr. Guest for being with us and defending life in every step of the way.

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Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Representative for his comments.

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Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate Representative Rose's being here tonight.

Mr. Speaker, I will use some of the time we have remaining. I know that we always want to debate this proposed legislation about what is good about it and what is bad about it. Oftentimes, we use languages to actually disguise what it is that we are actually talking about.

Tomorrow as we will debate and vote on the Women's Health Protection Act, abortion is the only medical procedure where two people go into the doctor's office and only one comes out alive. I know that in this people's House we have had heavy debate, and I know that both sides are divided on it and sometimes the language gets out of hand. It gets too hateful.

My colleagues on the other side have often said to me:

Look, we believe like you believe. We believe that life is sacred. We believe that every--every--child has a chance, and that unborn child is waiting to be born and waiting to experience all that life has to offer. But, you see, the Supreme Court took that option away from me. My personal preference would be life, but the Supreme Court took that option away from me.

So tomorrow, as we debate the Women's Health Protection Act and we hear a lot of discussion that goes back and forth and defending and then tearing apart and people adding to and subtracting from, we come to a lot of different things.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to share with you that last weekend while we were home, I had the opportunity to visit in Erie, Pennsylvania, in the district that I represent, I visited a women's care center. This is a center where too often they are described as people who are trying to discourage pregnant mothers from actually giving birth. They are trying to lead them into a different direction.

I just want to say this: the people who man these agencies give up a day of their life to come in and help counsel women who are going probably through some of the most difficult times of their life. Maybe it is not the right time for them to have that child. Maybe there is a financial problem, and it is just not right right now.

Maybe there is something else that stands in their way, and they are saying: Well, I am so alone. I am by myself. I don't know how I would handle this.

To those ladies who go through that, I would say that there are options available to you. The adoption option is there. We have thousands upon thousands of people who would love to adopt a child and to give it a loving home and to help nurture it as it goes through its lifecycles. We also have foster care that is available.

I know that I have talked to too many women who have experienced the anguish of going through an abortion and then later on thinking that they made the biggest mistake of their life and holding that guilt feeling in their life.

I would just like to suggest that we are a very forgiving society. We are a people who say:

Look, don't let that ruin your life. Don't let that ruin your life. There is forgiveness, there is grace, and there is mercy.

We know that. But as we stand here tonight in the people's House--in the people's House--how did we ever get to this point?

How did we ever in the United States of America decide that all life is not precious?

I mentioned earlier some of the horrific instances that have taken place just in the last few weeks, in the last few months, and in the last few years.

I know that, on Wednesdays, a lot of Representatives wear red, and that is to bring about the remembrance of the Boko Haram and the little girls who were kidnapped and never returned. It is always about ``we need to get our girls back.''

We have such open hearts, and we have such understanding in some cases. Then in other cases, we just close our eyes. We plug our ears. We say: No, no. You don't understand. In this situation, the conception of that child was not what we were looking for. That is not what we wanted, but it happened, and now we have a problem. What are we going to do with this little girl or this little boy?

I know people look away. They look to the sky, and they look to the walls, and they look to the floor, and they say: Look, my personal preference would be--but the Supreme Court made a decision. The Supreme Court has just righted a very wrong decision.

I hope that, at some point, the greatest defender of life in the history of the world, the greatest defender of liberty and freedom in the history of the world, the United States of America, would take a look at the course and the direction it has been taking for the last 50 years.

Millions upon millions upon millions of little boys and little girls have been denied the right to life. Where in our history did we ever come up with this idea that abortion is okay?

Look, I said earlier, I understand there are times in your life--I can just tell you this: As a father of four and a grandfather of 10, between our firstborn child and our second-born child, there was a pregnancy that took place. It was an ectopic pregnancy. My wife has wondered forever what that child would have been like had she gone full term.

I want to take a moment, Mr. Speaker, as we close now. In this building, in this room, in this town, tomorrow, we will have a chance to look at what it is we are doing and where we are going. I would just ask it all to be prayerful, peaceful, and understand that this is an issue that we can no longer close our eyes to.

If it is your personal preference, if it is something that you think is right for life, then, please, walk away from any political bend that you may have and look at the policies.

We are here for the best interests of the United States and the best interests of our American citizens.

Mr. Speaker, I thank you so much for your indulgence. I yield back the balance of my time.

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