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Cole Opposes Overreaching Abortion Legislation

July 15, 2022

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04), a member of the Pro-Life Caucus, released the following statement after voting against H.R. 8296 and H.R. 8297, legislation related to the Supreme Court's recent ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.

"I am deeply opposed to the legislation brought by House Democrats to codify and expand the misguided and unconstitutional abortion policy of Roe v. Wade," said Cole. "If enacted into law, these misguided bills would wipe from the books earlier state restrictions and require abortion on-demand nationwide at any point during a pregnancy. This is not only an outrageous attempt to strip individual states of their rights to determine such policy on their own, but it silences the voices of American voters, including thousands of Oklahomans, who cherish the sanctity of life and are opposed to abortions."

While managing the rule for the consideration of the legislation, Cole made extensive remarks. Video is available here and transcript is below.

Unfortunately, two other bills contained in this rule are partisan and stand no chance of becoming law. The Democratic majority is attempting to insert a right to an abortion into federal law, preempting every state law that seeks to protect life.

They want to require all states to permit abortion on demand at any time up to the point of birth. They want to outlaw commonsense restrictions, like preventing late-term abortions, preventing sex-selective abortions and preventing abortions targeting fetuses with Down Syndrome.

They want to prevent states from adopting commonsense protections for the unborn, such as banning mail-order or telemedicine abortion services. And they want to limit the rights of parents by creating a cause of action for outsiders to interfere with the parent-child relationship.

That would be an unconscionable state of affairs, Madam Speaker.

I would remind my colleagues of the words of the Declaration of Independence: that the right to life is one of those inalienable rights endowed upon us all, including unborn children, by our Creator. I will always be proud to stand strongly in favor of defending life, and I proudly stand in opposition to these bills today.

With that, I urge opposition to this rule.

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Issues:Life