-9999
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, this is a serious topic. To rush through it in a matter of minutes is unfair. More time should be devoted to it, but I am going to do my best in a short period of time to be very direct.
My first direction is, to anyone following this debate at home, pull out your cellphone, go to your search engine, whatever it happens to be, and look up the following name. I am going to spell it carefully because I want you to be able to type it in. Kermit, K-E-R-M-I-T, Gosnell, G-O-S-N-E-L-L. Kermit Gosnell.
While I speak, I hope you will take a look at what you see on your screen.
This bill has been proposed by my friend from Oklahoma. It creates new standards of care for doctors providing reproductive healthcare, and these standards are not based on medicine, fact, or science. The goal of this bill is to target and intimidate reproductive healthcare providers and make it harder for women to access comprehensive, compassionate healthcare.
Let me be clear. Despite former President Trump's wild claims, it is not legal in this country, in any State, to kill a child after it is born. Doctors already have an obligation under the law to provide appropriate medical care to any child that is born alive.
How do I know this? I voted for it. It is explicitly codified in a law which President Bush signed entitled ``Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002''--2002. It has been on the books over 20 years.
And when doctors harm babies in violation of State and Federal laws, they are held accountable. For example, in the year 2013, Dr. Kermit Gosnell, a Pennsylvania doctor, was convicted on three counts of first- degree murder for murdering babies after botched abortions. I want you to read, if you brought this up on your phone, the story of this man. What he did was an outrage. It was disgusting. He was held accountable for it and is serving life in prison as a result, without any possibility of parole.
So to argue that we are talking about an area of law that is not addressed by current law is just plain wrong. Our Nation already has laws in place to protect newborns. To suggest otherwise is simply false. Alleging that doctors are wantonly killing infants after birth is as ludicrous as accusing immigrants in Ohio of eating cats and dogs.
Here we are. This is today's Republican Presidential campaign. Rather than create meaningful protections for women and infants, what this bill would actually do is put politicians into private healthcare decisions.
Abortions occurring late in pregnancy are incredibly rare--incredibly rare. Why don't we hear the same level of concern for women being denied reproductive care and bleeding out in the parking lot of a hospital because of decisions by State legislatures? Let's be honest. That is a real problem and a real challenge.
In these heartbreaking situations, it is not for Congress to dictate the course of medical treatment. Those wrenching decisions must be left to medical professionals and the individuals in their care. It is the only compassionate outcome.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source