protecting. now this is something that is commonly accepted around the world. i don't know how many people realize that actually this legislation would bring the united states in line with the developed countries around the world. as a matter of fact, the united states is just one of seven countries worldwide that permits access to an elective abortion after five months of gestation. after five months of gestation. we are in some pretty, pretty tough company. right now we are in company with china, vietnam and north korea. the u.s., china, vietnam north korea basically permits an abortion up until the time a child is born naturally. this bill is also important

because it would significantly curtail the horrifying practices detect the in the videos we have seen of planned parenthood's operations over the summer. i'm surprised to see in the press that only about 49% of the american people have actually seen these videos because they are so horrific that they also i think are shocking and perhaps it is people would rather turn their gaze and look away rather than see the barbaric practices depicted in these videos. indeed these videos show planned parenthood executives callously discussing the value of an unborn child's organs and it is truly, truly morally reprehensible. i think unfortunately it reveals the dark side of humanity one that prizes the important organs

of a life rather than the potential potential that chad could have and i asked myself how to begin here? how did we become so desensitized to this and if there's anything these videos have done i hope it is awaken the conscience of the american people as well as members of congress to realize exactly what's going on and to conduct the investigations that are now underway by four committees of the congress and to do what we can like passing this pain capable child protection act which would make out of bounds the sort of late-term abortions that apparently this sort of enterprise depicted in the video depends upon. this legislation is a unique and powerful opportunity for us to act and to define -- defend the lives of unborn children across the country. to best chance we have to an answer culture of life in this

country. now not suggesting it's going to be easy or that we will have this vote if we are finished or not. i remember the long road to the passage of the partial-birth abortion ban act over a decade ago and i think the distinguished majority leader who has set this matter for a vote recognizes that this is the beginning of raising the visibility of this horrific practice and asking the american people whether they are comfortable with this sort of conduct they see depicted on these videos or whether we have to think again about whether we want to be part of a company, a coalition of china, vietnam and north korea when it comes to sanctioning these late-term abortions after the baby has literally become viable in the womb.

so if this bill becomes a law the land it would be the first time congress has significantly and meaningfully at dance the pro-life agenda over a decade. it took a long time for us to get the passage of the partial-birth abortion ban act of decade ago and i don't think we should underestimate the difficulty of the passage of this legislation and other pro-life legislation. but we need to start. these videos have given us the opportunity because they have awakened america's conscience and this legislation if passed would save the lives of thousands of unborn children and make impossible the sort of organ harvesting practice that we have seen on fully developed unborn babies that we see depicted in these videos. tomorrow the senate will have unique the unique opportunity to stand up for the most vulnerable and if we are not here to stand up for those who cannot speak for themselves the most

vulnerable of our society not the least of which are the unborn, what are we here for? so i hope my senate colleagues will vote to advance this legislation and in doing so vote to advance a culture of life in this country. moving this bill forward should be seen as a moral imperative by every member of the chamber. we can unite behind an understanding of obvious right and wrong and save thousands of lives by making the pain capable unborn child protection act a reality. madam president i yield the floor. >> madam president. >> the majority leader. >> i know many americans are looking ahead to the visit of pope francis this week with a great deal of interest rate thousands will gather on the capitol grounds for the chance

to hear him speak. i think i can speak for every colleague when i say the senate welcomes him with open arms. we look forward to his visit. so it's obviously going to be a busy week here in the senate with a legislative issues before us as well. earlier this year a new majority took office with a different outlook on government funding from the previous majority. we thought it made sense to actually pass a budget and then to fund it so we passed a the budget for the first time in six years. then we passed all 12 appropriations bills to the committee for the first time in six years. democratic colleagues voted for it and praise the appropriation bills in committee and we passed the 12 appropriations bills on the floor that would have funded the government without the promise of the past. the democrats change their mind

decided to block all government funding for months. some blocked bills they had just praised all the name of pushing washington into another one of these manufactured crises they just can't seem to shake. it's truly unfortunate that they have succeeded in making this a reality that we now face. so we have to push forward and we will. i'll have more to say on the issues as the week progresses. discussions are the best way forward are ongoing. discussions about the character of our country -- country continue as well. that's why tomorrow we will take up a bill the house of representatives has already passed legislation that will allow americans to join the ranks of most civilized nations when it comes to protecting the most innocent and vulnerable in life. we along with countries like north korea are one of seven

nations to allow late-term elective abortions after 20 weeks. in other words when science and medical research tells us that unborn children can feel pain. as a father of three daughters i find out both tragic and heartbreaking. many americans feel the same way. polls show men or women support connections for innocent life at five months. i'm asking colleagues open their hearts and work with us to help defend the defenseless, help us pass the pain capable unborn child protection act. i will have more to say about this important bill before we take a photo on it tomorrow. >> the senator from utah. >> madam president i rise today in strong support of the pain capable unborn child protection

act. this bill recognizes an indisputable fact that stands for indefensible principles. the fact that each of us was a human being before birth. the principle is each human being has inherent dignity and worth. the decision of roe v. wade's degraded the constitution and the regime of virtually unrestricted abortions that it's bond continues to degrade our culture. they degrade the constitution by reducing it to little more than a -- and using it for a cover of opposing the opinions of individual justices. this decision is the best example of what benjamin curtis warned about in his dissenting opinion in dred scott. he wrote that when the opinions of individuals control the constitutions meaning quote we have a government which is merely an exponent of the

individual political opinions of the members of the supreme court that is exactly where it grow versus wade is. in addition to degrading the constitution the abortion regime sponsored by roe and maintained continues to degrade our culture this effect is inevitable because that regime stood on the dark proposition that humanity itself has no inherent worth and demands respect and individual members of the human family can be killed for work and for work any reason at any time before birth. it was not always like this. just 25 years before roe v. wade the united states voted for universal declaration of human rights. the very first statement in the preamble recognizes quote the inherent dignity and inalienable rights of all members of the human family. unquote. article iii states everyone has

the right to life. just two years after the u.s. supreme court created and i'm limited rights to abortion in roe v. wade the federal constitution of germany came to a very different conclusion. reviewing the law that allowed abortion to the first 12 months of -- nine months of pregnancy the german court said that human life is the supreme value and the constitutional order and quote the vital basis for dignity and the prerequisite of all of their basic rights unquote. quite the contrast the united states has degraded human dignity by striking down a law protecting unborn children. germany promoted human dignity by striking down a law for it -- children. our supreme court said in unborn child is not a person under the

u.s. constitution and would not address whether that child is a living human being. the german court said that every human individual possessing life is covered by the german constitution including pre-born human beings. one of the most successful coverups of legal and social history has led americans into believing abortion is not legal for any reason at anytime in this country or this radical abortion regime is the norm around the world. neither is true. today the united states is one of only seven nations in the entire world to allow elective abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. other members of the club including china and north korea would prohibit the unjustified killing in the womb of human beings who can feel pain. the bill recognizes three justifications, three justifications when abortion is

necessary to save the life of the mother and when the pregnancy resulted from rape or against a minor. this bill would do nothing more than move the united states a step away from most extreme abortion position in the world. the supreme court made preventing us from upholding the inherent dignity of all human beings before birth. we should not defend that dignity for his many members of the human family as we can. that is why i support the pain capable unborn child protection act before us today. this bill is consistent in two different ways. without a supreme set of rules about abortion in the past. in roe v. wade the court drew a line at certain points in pregnancy reflecting something that the court found to be medically meaningful to the end of the first trimester the court said was related to the relative

safety of the abortion procedure the end of the second trimester the court said mark the time when a pre-born child can essentially live outside of the womb at least with artificial aid. the court said that these lines which identify with certain abortion regulations are permissible should be drawn quote in the light of present medical knowledge unquote. that's exactly what this bill does. as the findings state there are substantial medical evidence that a pre-born child is capable of experiencing pain by 20 weeks after fertilization if not earlier. i might add this is not a recent discovery. americans united for life for example published a monograph more than 30 years ago reviewing the medical evidence. dr. vincent collins professor of anesthesiology at the university of illinois wrote that the entire sensory nervous system is functioning well before the 20

week point. more recently dr. maureen condit a -- school of medicine has justified before congress in written scientific evidence regarding fetal pain is undisputed. that evidence shows the brain circuitry responsible for the detection of her spouse to pain is established well before the 20 week mark. this bill is consistent with precedence than another way. the supreme court has approved actually prohibiting abortion after a point when the pre-born child takes on important quality that justifies protection. in roe v. wade that reality was the viability or the ability to survive outside of the womb with artificial aid. in this bill that quality is the ability to feel pain which is

then universally recognized as compelling. both medicine and the law for example imposed a duty to relieve or to avoid pain. just look at the web site of the national institutes of health. includes an article by dr. eric j. cassels professor of public health at the cornell university medical college. he writes the obligation of physicians to relieve human suffering stretches back into antiquity. he calls the leave of ciphering quote one of the primary ends of medicine unquote. the clinical guidelines for pain published by the -- states that the ethical obligation to manage pain and relieve the patient's suffering is at the core of the health care professionals commitment unquote. the american academy of pain medicine has publicized an ethics chapter or charter i

guess i would say which outlines how physicians must implement both the ethical imperative to provide relief from pain and unquote. as medical professionals have the fundamental obligation to relieve human suffering they should be prohibited from imposing human suffering before birth. in its most recent abortion decision supreme court acknowledges certain ethical and moral concerns justify a specific abortion prohibition. the prevention of an intentional pain and suffering, the very core one of the primary ends of medicine qualifies and justifies the quality in this bill. turning to the law the eighth amendment of the u.s. constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. consider whether drugs used in lethal injections caused extreme or unnecessary pain and therefore violate the eighth amendment.

let's say that it does. if the infliction of pain can make executing the guilty and constitution not believe the infliction of pain should make a fording the innocent illegal. i look at the civil side of the law. juries award multi-million dollar verdicts against medical professionals and facilities for failing to relieve pain in their patience. one article in the western journal of medicine reviewing such cases concluded that quote there's a standard of care for pain management a significant departure from which constitutes medical malpractice but negligence unquote. to prevent pain in the sick can make a position libel, physician should be prohibited from inflicting pain on aborting children before birth. love me begin by saying that roe

v. wade and abortion regime that it sparked has degraded both the law and our culture. i am echoing the thoughtful words of president ronald reagan who in 1983 published an essay entitled abortion and the conscience of a nation. he writes and abortion on demand is not a right verified by the constitution but an act of raw power. he wrote quote we cannot diminish the value of one category of human life the unborn without diminishing the value of all human rights unquote. the american people have embraced this view by more than 2-1 in support with this bill would do. prohibiting abortions after 20 weeks in the percentage of women supporting a 20 week band is even higher than the national average. i think opponents of this legislation owes the american people an explanation.

why does they have physicians ethical duty to prevent pain began only when someone is born? why shouldn't that duty began when someone can feel pain? why do we care so much about preventing even the most despicable criminals from feeling pain to the pain inflicted on innocent pre-born children? the supreme court has sd from the beginning that the right to abortion must be balanced with other compelling interests. why this medical knowledge matter when it facilitates the orphans that prevent the pain caused by abortion clinics this bill recognizes the indisputable fact that each of us including each individual member of the u.s. senate was a living human being before we were born. this bill reflects the indispensable principle that each individual member of the human family has inherent

dignity and worth. prohibiting the killing of innocent human beings that can feel pain is only a small step in the right direction but it is a step that we must take a and i don't think there's a legitimate excuse for not taking that step. it's horrifying to me that some in the senate don't understand this or if they do continue to march down that path of indiscriminate abortion on demand which i think will pay a price for that someday. it's a shame that this has come to this type of the standard where you can't protect pre-born children who can feel the pain of abortion. can feel the pain of some of the medical techniques in some of these abortions that are use. madam president i suggest the absence of a quorum. >> the clerk will call the roll.

coming up on c-span2, remarks by outgoing army secretary john mchugh. then a confirmation hearing for the undersecretary of the treasury for terrorism.