Rep. Smith Confronts Clinton on Abortion, One-Child Policy

'Pregnancy is not a disease. The child in the womb is neither a tumor nor a parasite to be destroyed,' Smith told the former First Lady.

WASHINGTON, DC (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing yesterday, Congressman Chris Smith confronted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with a speech in which he blasted the administration's support for abortion around the world, saying that this promotes violence against "the most persecuted and at risk minority in the world" - the unborn child.

Smith, co-chairman of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, expressed disappointment that "unplanned pregnancy" in the Global Health Initiative Consultation Document "seems to be relegated to the status of a disease — juxtaposed between HIV and tropical disease."

"Pregnancy is not a disease. The child in the womb is neither a tumor nor a parasite to be destroyed," Smith told the former First Lady.

"I respectfully ask that the administration consider that for many of us, all abortion — legal or illegal — is violence against children and poses significant, often underappreciated risks to women and even to children later born to post-abortive women," said Smith.

"Madame Secretary, the term ´safe abortion´ is the ultimate oxymoron," he continued. "Child dismemberment, forced premature explosion from the womb by chemicals like misoprostol, deliberate child starvation by RU486, can never, ever be construed to be benign, compassionate or safe.  UN Millennium Development Goal #4 seeks to reduce child mortality.

"Abortion is child mortality."

The congressman went on to recite a litany of women´s health risks linked to abortion, including psychological harm such as depression and thoughts of suicide, as well as the 30-40% rise in breast cancer risk cited by at least 28 studies. Smith pointed out the plethora of health risks for a post-abortive woman's subsequent children, including future premature birth, which at least 113 studies have shown to have a strong association with previous abortion.

Smith also criticized pro-abortion forces influencing the United Nations to expand the killing of the unborn under the heading of lowering maternal mortality rates. "Today, as never before, the largely preventable tragedy of maternal mortality is being exploited to promote unfettered access to abortion on demand," he said.

Finally, Smith confronted Clinton with the story of Wujan, a Chinese woman who testified to the Lantos Human Rights Commission last November about how the government forcibly aborted her unborn child.  Wujan told the panel of the conditions where she was taken for the procedure: "The room was full of moms who had just gone through a forced abortion.  Some moms were crying.  Some moms were mourning.  Some moms were screaming.  And one mom was rolling on the floor with unbearable pain."

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"Then Wuijan said it was her turn, and through her tears she described what she called her 'journey in hell,'" said Smith. "Silence in the face of massive crimes against women in China — women like Wuijan — shouldn´t be an option."

Clinton did not give a response to Smith's statements.

Before her first journey to China as Secretary of State last year, Clinton drew ire from human rights groups by telling reporters that addressing the country's crimes against human rights would not top her agenda.

Ironically, in 2005, Clinton herself issued a letter to President Bush urging him to confront the communist country on its draconian policies, including forced abortion.

"Since first introduced in 1979, China's one-child policy has evoked strong concern over human rights abuses," she wrote. "These abuses have reportedly included denial of social benefits, fines, detention, destruction of property, forced abortion and forced sterilization." Clinton noted that as a participant in the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 she "heard first hand about these practices and spoke against them."

In April of last year, Clinton admitted to the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the Obama administration would work to dismantle pro-life legislation worldwide.  The administration's definition of "reproductive health" includes abortion, she said, and declared that, "We are now an administration that will protect the rights of women, including their rights to reproductive health care."

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