January 21, 2011

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Editor's note. The following are excerpts of remarks by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith delivered at a January 20 Press Conference in Washington, D.C.

Yesterday an abortionist in Philadelphia--Dr. Kermit Gosnell--was arrested and charged in the death of a mother, and seven babies who were born alive but then killed by severing their spinal cords with a pair of scissors.

According to the Philadelphia CBS TV affiliate, the District Attorney said that in one year alone, Dr. Gosnell made approximately $1.8 million performing abortions.

The abortion industry, Mr. Speaker, is a multibillion dollar business.

Planned Parenthood boasts that in 2008 alone, their abortionists killed over 324,000 babies while raking in an approximately $1 billion in fees and local, state and federal government subsidies.

The ugly truth is that abortionists often get filthy rich, not by healing or nurturing or curing--but by dismembering and decapitating the fragile bodies of unborn children; by starving the child in the womb with lethal agents like RU486 or by other means of chemical poisoning.

The ugly truth is that women are victimized by abortion--wounded and hurt physically and emotionally. Women deserve better than abortion.

The only thing the multibillion abortion industry has produced in America--and worldwide-- is victims: wounded women and over 52 million dead babies in the United States since 1973--more than six times the entire population of my home state of New Jersey.

The multibillion dollar abortion industry systematically dehumanizes the weakest and most vulnerable among us with catchy slogans, slick advertising, clever marketing, and aggressive lobbying.

They have made the unacceptable--to be prejudiced and bigoted against the child in the womb--acceptable to some.

This "acceptable bigotry" has been promoted for decades, despite breathtaking advances in fetal medicine including micro-surgery underscoring the fact that an unborn child is a patient in need of care, just like anyone else, and despite that amazing window to the womb--ultrasound imaging.

In 1976, Dr. Willard Cates and Dr. David Grimes, then with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), presented a paper to a Planned Parenthood meeting entitled "Abortion as a Treatment for Unintended Pregnancy: The Number Two Sexually Transmitted Disease."

These two abortion doctors reduced the child in the womb to the equivalent of a parasite or disease to be vanquished. As far as I know, no one at Planned Parenthood objected to the dehumanizing language and obvious bigotry towards children.

The evidence of significant harm to women who abort increases each year.

Abortion hurts women's health and puts future children subsequently born to women who aborted at significant risk. At least 102 studies show significant psychological harm, major depression and elevated suicide risk in women who abort.

The Times of London reported that, "[S]enior…psychiatrists say that new evidence has uncovered a clear link between abortion and mental illness in women with no previous history of psychological problems." They found, "that women who have had abortions have twice the level of psychological problems and three times the level of depression as women who have given birth or who have never been pregnant…"

In 2006, a comprehensive New Zealand study found that 78.6 percent of the 15-18 year olds who had abortions displayed symptoms of major depression as compared to 31 percent of their peers. The study also found that 27 percent of the 21-25 year old women who had abortions had suicidal idealizations compared to eight percent of those who did not have an abortion.

Abortion isn't safe for subsequent children born to women who have had an abortion. At least 113 studies show a significant association between abortion and subsequent premature births. For example a study by researchers Shah and Zoe showed a 36 percent increased risk for preterm birth after one abortion and a staggering 93 percent increased risk after two.

Similarly, the risk of subsequent children being born with low birth weight increases by 35 percent after one and 72 percent after two or more abortions.

Another study shows the risk increases nine times after a woman has had three abortions.

What does this mean for her children? Preterm birth is the leading cause of infant mortality in the industrialized world after congenital anomalies. Preterm infants have a greater risk of suffering from chronic lung disease, sensory deficits, cerebral palsy, cognitive impairments and behavior problems. Low birth weight is similarly associated with neonatal mortality and morbidity.

Dr. Alveda King, niece of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who we honored on Monday, has joined the growing coalition of women who deeply regret their abortions and are "Silent No More." Out of deep personal pain and compassion for others, Dr. King who had two abortions and the women of "Silent No More" challenge us to respect, protect and tangibly love both the mother and the child. The women of "Silent No More" give post-abortive women a safe place to grieve, and a roadmap for reconciliation.

This week, with the full and unequivocal support of Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Cantor, more than 125 Members and I will introduce the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act--a government wide prohibition on taxpayer subsidization for abortion and conscience protections with durable remedies.

Abortion is not health care. And polls show that taxpayers strongly oppose publicly funded abortion--67 percent according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll.

Our new bill is designed to permanently end any U.S. government financial support for abortion whether it be direct funding or by tax credits or any other subsidy.

Regarding conscience rights--last year, Cathy DeCarlo, a nurse at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York was compelled--despite her strong moral and religious objections--to assist in a grisly D&E abortion which has been described by the US Supreme Court as a procedure where the doctor uses forceps to tear apart the unborn child. D&E abortion is a gruesome act of child abuse.

Ms. DeCarlo sued--asserting her right to conscience had been violated under existing federal law. Her case was dismissed, however, due to the lack of prescribed remedies.

The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act protects conscience rights of individuals and institutions by empowering the courts with the authority to prevent and redress actual or threatened violations of conscience.

President Obama has said he wants abortion to be rare. Well, Mr. Obama, here is a bill for you. Even the Guttmacher Institute, the former research arm of Planned Parenthood, says that taxpayer funding bans are a proven abortion reduction method. According to Guttmacher, studies show that when abortion is not publicly funded, abortions in the covered population are reduced by roughly 25 percent.

Thousands to Pray for End to Abortion at National Prayer Vigil for Life

Part One
Part Two
Part Three