On Oct. 2, 2003, by a vote of 281 to 142, the House passed the final version of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 (S. 3).
This Republican resolution, supported by President Bush, makes partial-birth abortion a crime punishable with "fines and prison terms of up to two years." Co-sponsor Rep. Sue Myrick (R.-N.C.) said spouses and parents of under-age women who are victimized by this "horrific act of human violence" will also be able to sue for damages. Myrick, a mother and a grandmother, expressed shock that partial-birth abortions are "still legal in America today."
The Republicans graphically detailed the three-day process of partial-birth abortion. At the culmination of the procedure, the abortionist forcibly dilates a woman’s cervix, pulls her baby outside her womb, clutched, by the cervix "a few inches from a completed birth." Myrick continued, "The abortionist pierces the baby’s skull, with scissors, before suctioning its brains out, crushing its skull, and tossing its body aside "as medical waste." "This is a historic day for the American people," said Myrick.
This "landmark day," said Rep. James Oberstar (D.-Minn.), found "Roe v. Wade repugnant. "
Democrats Rep. Steny Hoyer (D.-Md.) and Chet Edwards (D.-Tex.), argued that the legislation is useless since it outlaws "one late-term abortion procedure, while allowing all others to remain perfectly legal."
Rep. Louise Slaughter (D.-N.Y.), mocked Republicans’ labeling this "a historic day for America," suggesting next on Congress’s ban list of medical procedures is vasectomies for men. Slaughter and Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) both bemoaned that partial-birth abortion, settled three years ago by the Supreme Court, was the "pressing issue" before the House, with the country falling apart from poverty, debt and joblessness.
The Republicans, wanting to know who gave Supreme Court justices the right to be legislators, argued against the idea that such a procedure as partial-birth abortion could be called "a medical procedure."
Rep. Chris Smith (R.-N.J.) said the Americans with Disabilities Act brought America to recognize disabled people as "entitled to the best possible life imaginable as everyone else. The 44.4 million dead babies since Roe, he said, would "fill Yankee Stadium to capacity each and every day for 788 days."
Rep. Ron Lewis (R.-Ky.) quoted Mother Theresa of Calcutta: "The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion, because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me?"
This "devil procedure," said Rep. Jeff Miller (R.-Fla), "must be outlawed."
During the vote, two Democrats-Rep. Frank Ballance (D.-N. C.) and Charlie Gonzalez (D.-Tex.)-changed their votes to "nay" from "yea."
A "yes" vote was a vote for the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, to ban partial-birth abortion. A "no" vote was a vote against the bill.
| FOR THE BILL: 281 | AGAINST THE BILL: 142 |
| REPUBLICANS FOR: 218 Aderholt Akin Bachus Baker Ballenger Barrett (SC) Bartlett (MD) Barton (TX) Bass Beauprez Bereuter Biggert Bilirakis Bishop (UT) Blackburn Blunt Boehlert Boehner Bonilla Bonner Bono Boozman Bradley (NH) Brown (SC) Brown-Waite, V. Burgess Burns Burr Burton (IN) Buyer Calvert Camp Cannon Cantor Capito Carter Castle Chabot Chocola Coble Cole Collins Cox Crane Crenshaw Cubin Culberson Cunningham Davis, Jo Ann Davis, Tom Deal (GA) DeLay DeMint Diaz-Balart, L. Diaz-Balart, M. Doolittle Duncan Dunn Ehlers Emerson English Everett Feeney Ferguson Flake Fletcher Foley Forbes Fossella Franks (AZ) Frelinghuysen Gallegly Garrett (NJ) Gerlach Gibbons Gilchrest Gillmor Gingrey Goode Goodlatte Goss Granger Graves Green (WI) Gutknecht Harris Hart Hastert Hastings (WA) Hayes Hayworth Hefley Hensarling Herger Hobson Hoekstra Hostettler Houghton Hulshof Hunter Isakson Istook Janklow Jenkins Johnson, Sam Johnson (IL) Jones (NC) Keller Kelly Kennedy (MN) King (IA) King (NY) Kingston Kline Knollenberg LaHood Latham LaTourette Leach Lewis (CA) Lewis (KY) Linder LoBiondo Lucas (OK) Manzullo McCotter McCrery McHugh McInnis McKeon Mica Miller, Gary Miller (FL) Miller (MI) Moran (KS) Murphy Musgrave Myrick Nethercutt Neugebauer Ney Northup Norwood Nunes Nussle Osborne Ose Otter Oxley Paul Pearce Pence Peterson (PA) Petri Pitts Platts Pombo Porter Portman Pryce (OH) Putnam Quinn Radanovich Ramstad Regula Rehberg Renzi Reynolds Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rogers (MI) Rohrabacher Ros-Lehtinen Royce Ryan (WI) Ryun (KS) Saxton Schrock Sensenbrenner Sessions Shadegg Shaw Shays Sherwood Shimkus Shuster Simpson Smith (MI) Smith (NJ) Smith (TX) Souder Stearns Sullivan Sweeney Tancredo Tauzin Taylor (NC) Terry Thomas Thornberry Tiahrt Tiberi Toomey Turner (OH) Upton Vitter Walden (OR) Wamp Weldon (FL) Weldon (PA) Weller Whitfield Wicker Wilson (NM) Wilson (SC) Wolf Young (AK) Young (FL) DEMOCRATS FOR: 63 |
REPUBLICANS AGAINST: 4 Greenwood Johnson (CT) Kolbe Simmons DEMOCRATS AGAINST: 137 INDEPENDENTS AGAINST: 1 |
NOT VOTING: 12
| REPUBLICANS (7): | DEMOCRATS (5): | INDEPENDENTS (0) |
| Brady (TX) Dreier Hyde Issa Kirk Pickering Walsh |
Boswell Evans Gephardt Eshoo Sabo |
