The debate in Congress regarding the allocation of taxpayer money towards the Planned Parenthood program became personal.
New Jersey Republican Representative Chris Smith read gruesome accounts of abortions from a book. California Democratic Representative Jackie Speier chose not to go through with her planned remarks on the legislation, as the “gentlemen from New Jersey just put my stomach in knots.”
Speier revealed on the floor of the House that she had once had an abortion.
She stated, “I’m one of those women he spoke about just now. That procedure you just talked about was a procedure I endured. I lost a baby. But for you to stand on this floor and to suggest, as you have, that somehow this is a procedure that is either welcomed or done cavalierly or done without any thought is preposterous.
In her emotional appeal, she stated that she had to go through with an abortion at 17-weeks gestation due to medical complications.
The GOP is currently working towards an amendment that would defund Planned Parenthood.
This amendment is championed by Republican Representative Mike Pence from Indiana, who stated, “As the father of two teenage daughter, there are not words strong enough to portray my contempt of this pattern of apparent fraud and abuse by Planned Parenthood.”