Three years ago, a Pennsylvania jury convicted Kermit Gosnell of three counts of murder for delivering and then killing infants born alive. Nearly one year ago, we first saw the inhumane Planned Parenthood videos. It is important that we not put these events behind us, but, instead, use these somber anniversaries as a reminder that the fight to protect the unborn is a worthy one that we must carry on every single day. We have all been blessed with the gift of life, and it is incumbent upon us to continue to stand up for the rights of our world’s most vulnerable population, the unborn.   

As you may recall, the Planned Parenthood and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America Medical Directors Council videos that were released described in horrific detail the dangerous abortion practices that medical professionals within their organizations use to obtain fetal body parts. These body parts are then sold piece by piece to third party companies who either conduct fetal tissue research or sell the tissue to other researchers.

Those actions are completely unacceptable and cannot go unanswered. That is why I am leading an effort in the House to prohibit the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from using funds to purchase fetal tissue procured from induced abortions. I want to recognize and thank my 29 colleagues who have joined me in this effort and are working with me to push the House Appropriations Committee to include this commonsense prohibition in upcoming legislation.

In the last fiscal year, $80 million was directed towards research using human fetal tissue. My effort explicitly states that no funds should be made available for the procurement of fetal tissue. Abortion providers cannot and should not profit from the harvesting of innocent, human lives and NIH can and should fulfill its research mission without harming the unborn.

The House has steadily led the fight by voting to advance pro-life legislation. At the beginning of this year, both the House and the Senate passed the Restoring Americans Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act, monumental legislation that would gut Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood. Unfortunately, instead of listening to the will of the American people, the president once again chose his liberal political agenda and vetoed this legislation.

While this president has demonstrated time and again that he will not stand with the unborn, that will not deter me. I am a proud cosponsor of numerous pro-life bills that my colleagues have introduced, and I will continue to support those pro-life bills as they come to the House floor. One example is my vote in support of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act which would ensure that a baby born alive during an abortion would be afforded the same degree of care that would apply to any other child born at the same gestational age.   

My entire life I have been a strong advocate for the pro-life community and I will not waver in my support for standing up for the most vulnerable population in our nation.