U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) April 5, 1997 There weren't many, they told us. Only a few hundred a year. They said they were done to horribly deformed fetuses or to save the mother's health. They had to be done. In fact, we were assured, no one had any choice at all. This is Senator Rick Santorum from Pennsylvania. These are the stories told by supporters of partial birth abortion. And that's the problem. They're just stories. But they have been repeated until the public believed them. And why not? They were told well and repeated as facts by the media because they had to hide and deny the truth -- partial birth abortion is a procedure whereby a live, fully formed fetus is pulled feet first out of the womb until all but part of the head is delivered. A scissors is plunged into the base of the skull, a tube inserted and the brains suctioned out so that the head of the now-dead baby collapses and is delivered. Now, let's talk about these stories. Defenders of this practice claimed there were only a few hundred a year. They repeated this as if to keep the procedure isolated to a few unfortunate women who faced difficult decisions. They tried to separate it from the rest of our culture -- as if to say, "don't pay any attention. This doesn't affect the rest of us." But attention must be paid. And it does affect the rest of us. What takes place in the shadows of our society often affects the most vulnerable and is critical to our search for justice. We can't realize justice by lying to the public. There are not a "just a few hundred" of these procedures a year. According to Ron Fitzsimmons, director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, there are up to 5,000 per year. And the abortion advocates knew this a year ago. They also knew partial birth abortions are performed primarily on healthy babies of healthy mothers. Yet its supporters maintained that this procedure is only for medically extreme cases where the health of the mother or fetus is in question. This of course was the most powerful story of all and its supporters knew it. To justify this practice, abortion advocates seized upon the image of a very sick or disabled infant and the anguished mothers who felt compelled to agree to such a gruesome act. This is where partial birth abortion advocates falsely declare that this procedure is the only choice. Of all the stories told, this one just might be the cruelest. Because hundred of obstetricians have agreed with former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop when he said, "A partial birth abortion is never medically necessary to protect a mother's health or her future fertility." This opinion was supported again by a medical expert during a recent joint House and Senate hearing. The advocates of this procedure had no medical expert to go on record in front of Congress and the public to say that partial birth abortion is in the best interest of women -- not one doctor. All we heard were the stories -- tragic, certainly -- of women who believed that this brutality was their only choice. Contrary to medical opinion, defenders of this practice tried hard to characterize it as a private health concern in contrast to what it really is. It is about infanticide. Mr. Fitzsimmons says as much. "It is a form of killing. You are ending a life." Partial birth abortion is then, by its very nature, an issue that the Congress and the American public must confront. This atrocity has be brought out of the shadows and into the center of our national debate. Because of this, how we respond will determine our ability as a nation to achieve justice. We now know what partial birth abortion is, why it is done, when it is done and how often it is done. If we do not succeed in banning this practice, we will forever be a people who could not find enough moral reserve to outlaw infanticide. This barbarism has been defended in the only way it could be, through distortion and disinformation. This untruth is reminiscent of a line from author Joan Didion, "We tell ourselves stories in order to live." But the self-deception must stop here. It has too many horrific consequences. We must face the truth. We must summon the courage to act, for if we fail to act, our culture is forever changed. All these tragic stories cannot help us live with partial birth abortion. We now know, these are stories that kill. So, I call upon all of you to urge your senators to support the bill that passed the House last month and with the support, I might add, of many pro-choice legislators, including Representatives Dick Gephardt and Patrick Kennedy. I would also call upon the president to stop listening to these stories and to hear the voices of truth -- voices that speak for those who have been silenced. If we remain silent now, we condemn not only the nearly born, but also ourselves. America, if we sanction the brutal destruction of those who are not perfect, who are not chosen or not convenient, who are unseen or have no one to defend them, who among us would be spared? This is Senator Rick Santorum. Good day.