The Gosnell Trial

Floor Speech

Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Speaker, I rise to highlight the deeply disturbing case of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, who is currently charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of third-degree murder related to the botched abortions at a Pennsylvania clinic. Former employees have testified that he delivered babies and then killed them by snipping their spinal cords with scissors. One staffer described this procedure as ``literally a beheading.''

Mr. Speaker, life is precious; therefore, every abortion is a tragedy. But this case exposes the full horror of abortion carried to its logical end. As columnist Kirsten Powers recently wrote, the difference between late-term abortion in the womb and the murder of a newborn infant is simply ``merely a matter of geography.''

In response to a nearly total lack of coverage by mainstream media, myself and many Members who stand today here, including Marsha Blackburn, Steve Scalise, and a whole cadre of folks that are speaking today, wrote to the heads of the major TV networks demanding that they cover this and other high-profile abortion controversies.

Thankfully, this case has begun to receive the attention it deserves, and Americans are discovering that this is not about pro-choice versus pro-life, but about basic human rights.

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