Abortion And The Democrat Health Care Bill

Floor Speech

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Mr. JORDAN of Ohio. Madam Speaker, let me thank Representative Smith for his many years of leading the Pro-Life Caucus and fighting to protect the sanctity of human life. I especially want to thank him, along with Congressman Pitts and Congressman Stupak and a host of others, and you as well, Madam Speaker, for your efforts in working to get this language out of the bill which would take us to a point that would cross a line in this country that I believe is very, very scary.

If you remember when the decision happened in 1973 and we started down this road, one of the arguments we heard from the pro-life community--and we, frankly, continue to hear--is the slippery slope argument, the fact that this slope is slippery, it is steep, and that if we begin to allow unborn life to be taken, it will lead to a whole host of things. Now, here we have a health care bill in front of us scheduled to be voted on this weekend, this Saturday, which would, in fact, permit taxpayer dollars, Federal dollars, government money to be used to end the life of an unborn child. That is just wrong. It is important that we tell the American people we do not want to go past this. The American people understand this. They do not want their tax dollars used in this way. I think it is critical that we just

continue to fight.

So again, I want to be brief tonight. I know we have a few more speakers in just the few minutes we have left, but it is so critical that we understand how sacred life is.

There was a precedent here today in the Nation's Capital where thousands of people came. One of the things that concerned them--not just the price of this bill, not just other elements, not just a lack of empowerment for families and small business owners and taxpayers in this bill, but the fact that their tax dollars could, in fact, be used to end life, and they spoke out loud and clear.

And one of the things that was said at that conference, we went back to the document that started it all--and I will finish with this. The document that started it all. I tell people, next to Scripture, the best words ever put on paper in the Declaration of Independence, where the folks who started this great country, this great experiment in freedom and liberty, they wrote these words: ``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.''

We've all heard this before, but it's so interesting to go back to these fundamentals, to go back to these basic principles that started this grand place we call America. It's interesting the order the Founders placed the rights they chose to mention. Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness.

Just ask yourself a question, Madam Speaker. Can you pursue happiness? Can you go after your goals, your dreams? Can you go after those things, pursue those things that have meaning and significance to you if you first don't have liberty, if you first don't have freedom? And do you ever truly have real liberty, true freedom if government doesn't protect your most fundamental right, the right to live? That's what's at stake here.

We are on the verge of crossing a very dangerous line if we allow this health care bill with all its other problems, but the central focus in this bill of allowing taxpayer dollars, Federal money to be used to end the life of an unborn child. It's so critical that we stop this bill in general, but certainly to make sure that provision is not there and continue to be a country that respects the sanctity and sacredness of human life.

So again, I want to commend the Chair of the Pro-Life Caucus for his many years in doing just that and fighting this good fight. God bless you.

With that, I will yield back the balance of my time.

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