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HEARTBEATS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Clyde) for 5 minutes.
Mr. CLYDE. Madam Speaker, I stand before you today on behalf of our Nation's unborn children, children, let me remind you, with heartbeats at 6 weeks, with fingers and toes at 10 weeks, and with the ability to feel and react to pain as early as 12 weeks. For too long, our Nation's leaders have tolerated the murder of millions of our precious children through cruel and painful abortions. Madam Speaker, this cruelty and insanity must stop.
Many States have passed legislation to protect both these unborn babies and their mothers, but my Democratic colleagues are actively attempting to undermine and overturn these protections through H.R. 3755, the Abortion on Demand Until Birth Act.
In addition, the bill disregards the conscience rights of millions of Americans. An Associated Press poll released in June of this year shows that up to 66 percent of adults believe abortions should be illegal in the second trimester and up to 81 percent in the third trimester. Yet H.R. 3755 is set in direct contradiction to the beliefs of the people as it allows for full-term abortions for any reason under the bill's all-inclusive health clause.
The abortion on demand bill is murder in the first degree.
Madam Speaker, it is impossible to justify the murder of a precious child in the womb. We all know that it is wrong to take innocent life, and no amount of slick talk will make it right.
The scientific community has made great advancements through modern medicine and patient care practices to extend longevity for those who could not otherwise survive on their own, both old and young.
At the time of Roe v. Wade, the average life expectancy for a man was close to 68 years and for a woman 75 years. Today, the average life expectancy is 78 years for men and nearly 83 for women. These are significant increases thanks to modern medicine.
Such scientific and medical advancements have also proven viability for many infants born as early as 21 weeks gestational age, a feat that was nearly impossible at the time of Roe v. Wade or Planned Parenthood v. Casey. We also now know that a heartbeat exists at 6 weeks.
While science is ever improving, the moral and ethical considerations are crystal clear: To end an innocent human life is to end a heartbeat. That is murder.
I firmly believe that life begins at conception, and speaking objectively, I ask you this: What better scientific metric to determine the existence of life than the presence of a heartbeat? You have a heartbeat, and I have a heartbeat. We both are alive. A heartbeat means life. When a heartbeat ceases, then life ceases. So when a heartbeat is present, we know there is life. When two heartbeats are present, a mom and her child, we know there are two lives.
Madam Speaker, a heartbeat is a defining evidence of life.
A small child and an aged adult alike can both wrap their minds around the fact that a heartbeat equals life, and that to end a heartbeat is to end life.
This bill, H.R. 3755, ends heartbeats, so it ends life. The Declaration of Independence says: ``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. That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men . . . ''
Life is the first of the unalienable rights mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. And to secure these rights, government is instituted. To protect life is our first responsibility. We cannot ignore this. We must not ignore this.
Therefore, I encourage my colleagues to reject H.R. 3755 and join me in standing for the sanctity of life, for the preservation of the most innocent heartbeats in America. Soli Deo gloria.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 164
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