OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act

Floor Speech

Date: Sept. 18, 2015
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Abortion

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Mr. SCALISE. I thank the gentleman from Virginia for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act offered by my friend and colleague from Arizona, Trent Franks.

Madam Speaker, this bill is about standing up for the sanctity of life. Specifically, this bill deals with babies that are born alive.

Whether it was the result of an abortion or a normal birth, all people in this country deserve that same protection. Madam Speaker, why should a baby that is born alive be denied that same right?

Our Founding Fathers, in the Declaration of Independence, made it crystal clear: ``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.''

Madam Speaker, the first unalienable right mentioned by our Founders--and these were not rights given to us by our Founders; they were given to us by our Creator--that first right is life.

If a baby is born alive, they ought to have that protection. That is what this bill is about. It is about giving that protection that is enumerated in the Constitution and in the Declaration of Independence itself to say they ought to have that protection in law, that if they are born alive, that they ought to have that same medical protection.

So, Madam Speaker, when you saw the President come out yesterday and say that he would veto this bill, how extreme can somebody be to say they would not stand up for a baby that is born alive to have the same protection that the Declaration of Independence enumerates as an ``unalienable right''?

This should be a place where we can all come together, a place where we can all agree that we, as a House, can come together and stand up and give that protection in law to those babies that are born alive.

I would hope that all of my colleagues would join in, that we could send this bill over to the Senate, that they can have the same debate and agree to pass that on, and that, ultimately, the President would recognize that this is a bill that ought to become law.

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