If you recall, the House of Representatives voted last year to approve the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, a bill to prohibit this grisly procedure.  After President Clinton vetoed the measure, the House voted to override it.  However, the Senate failed to muster the 67 votes necessary to override the President's misguided veto.   On February 15 of this year, I became an original cosponsor of another bill which would prohibit abortion providers from using this procedure.

This week, the House of Representatives has again showed its commitment to saving the lives of the unborn by considering H.R. 3660, the Partial-Birth Abortion Act.  Like its predecessors, H.R. 3660 would simply prohibit abortion providers from conducting partial-birth abortions.  This procedure is so barbaric and gruesome that I cannot think about it let alone describe it here in detail.

The arguments in support of this ban are compelling.  According to a recent poll, 64% of Americans have expressed deeply held opposition to this procedure.  While supporters of this procedure claim that it is safe and often necessary to help protect the mother's own life, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop has claimed that the partial delivery and the destruction of an infant is never a medical necessity for the mother.  In fact, a majority of doctors concur.  Despite President Clinton's pledge to make such abortions rare, statistics prove otherwise.  In 1996, a Wall Street Journal reporter indicated in an article that one abortion clinic in New Jersey committed nearly 1,500 partial-birth abortions in a single year.  So much for rarity.  While this bill would not eliminate abortion altogether, it would stop a practice which is not rare, not necessary and simply not right.

Although pro-abortion activists will tell you otherwise, there is an alternative to abortion.  As a member of the International Relations Committee, I have cosponsored a bill that would make it easier for American parents to adopt foreign-born children and for foreign parents to adopt American children.  The bill will likely be considered on the House floor in the coming weeks.  While this bill is not the solution to this most difficult of issues, it would help save the lives many unborn children.

I know that the abortion issue is controversial and emotional.  But, I wanted to be sure that my position is plainly understood.  I cosponsored H.R. 3660 because I believe that it is the duty of this Congress and our government to protect the rights of all its citizens, especially the unborn, from such brutal treatment.  The Senate has already passed its version of this bill.   It is my sincerest hope that the President and his allies have the compassion and the wisdom to help enact this important legislation.

Before I close, I would like to remind you to fill out and return your Census forms.  By doing so, you will ensure that our communities will have better schools, roads and other services that we so desperately need.  

Thank you for listening,

I am Congressman Cass Ballenger.