April 5, 2000

Statement of Congressman John Conyers, Jr.

on H.R. 3660 - The So-Called Partial-Birth Abortion Ban

The members of this House, and the public should make no mistake.

This bill is not about legislating, it is a game.

It is a game designed to thumb Congress's legislative nose at the Constitutional bedrock of Roe v. Wade which gives a woman the right to choose. It's a game designed to provoke a veto.

We would all like to end unnecessary partial birth abortions. Indeed, had the majority really wanted to do this, we could have worked together to pass legislation 15 months ago when this session started.

Democrats would have worked to pass such legislation.

But instead we have a charade. We wait 15 months. No hearings,, no markup in subcommittee, no markup in full Committee. No amendments offered on the House floor.

Why? Because the sponsors of this legislation don't want us to offer a real proposal that could get signed into law and pass constitutional muster.

Instead they want a bill that can't pass into law or meet the requirements of the Constitution. They do this because they want an issue, not a law that will ban unnecessary late term procedures.

What does this mean. The majority wants to trample constitutional rights of a woman to obtain certain procedures when she needs them to protect her health.

It wants to force women like Kim Koster to carry their pregnancies to term.

Ms. Koster wanted to have a baby, but she found out not once, but twice, that the fetus she was carrying had no brain tissue. The first time this happened, the Nebraska law that has now been enjoined, was still in force, and there was no way for her to have a safe, legal abortion. The sponsors of this bill would have Ms. Koster carry this fetus, who had no brain.

If anyone has any doubts about the game that is being choreographed here today, they will be dispelled if you look across the street at the Supreme Court, which is set to hear arguments on the constitutionality of than earlier version of this statute. Under normal circumstances, we would be loath to get out ahead of the Supreme Court in a case concerning virtually identical language.

That's because, ever since the Supreme Court's decision in Marbury v. Madison almost 200 years ago, we have recognized that the Supreme Court has the last word on the constitutionality of our laws. But it's an election year, and the Republican leadership can't wait for the Supreme Court to fulfill its constitutionally-mandated role.

The reality is this bill is unconstitutional, because it contains no exception providing for the physical health of the mother. And that is why we should vote against it. Roe v. Wade clearly holds that a woman's right to protect her life and health, in the context of reproductive choice, trumps the government, as big brother, in its desire to regulate.

Medical and legal experts who have reviewed the legislation note that it is extremely vague and broad and as a result, may outlaw abortion procedures at ANY stage of pregnancy. In fact, in my home state of Michigan, on July 31, 1997, Judge Gerald Rosen struck down Michigan's "partial-birth" abortion ban, in the first case finding that the definition of "partial-birth" was so vague that doctors lacked notice as to what abortion procedures were banned. Moreover, the court found that the state law unduly burdened women's ability to obtain an abortion. It is clear that this bill violates that well established constitutional law long-settled by Roe.

The nation's leading conservative jurist, 7^th Circuit Chief Judge Richard Posner who was appointed by President Reagan, himself said of these legislative end runs:

These statutes . . . are concerned with making a statement in the ongoing war for public opinion, though an incidental effect may be to discourage some late-term abortions. The statement is that fetal life is more valuable than women's health.

And for heaven's sake, lets not force by legislative fiat the Kim Custis's of this world to bring to term fetus's that cannot survive.

Lets stop trying to usurp the duties of the United States Supreme Court.

Let's take the politicians out of the bedrooms.