Washington, D.C. – Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX) delivered the following opening remarks at the start of the Rule Debate for H.R. 7900, NDAA; H.R. 8296, Women’s Health Protection Act; and H.R. 8297, Ensuring Access to Abortion Act.

As Prepared for Delivery:

I thank the gentleman for yielding the time. And Speaker before coming to Congress, I practiced medicine for nearly 30 years, I had the privilege of delivering 3,000 babies. I dedicated my career as a physician to protecting the lives of children and families and running a pro-life practice in North Texas.

I've seen both sides of this argument both as a doctor and a policymaker. Indeed, the chairman of the department of OBGYN at Parkland Hospital Southwestern Medical School, when I was a resident pointed out to us that those of us who were privileged to begin the practice of obstetrics, were unique in medicine in that we were going to be charged with taking care of two patients with a combined life expectancy of over 100 years. Almost nowhere else in medicine do you have that ability to impact the future.

Back in 2002, I decided to run for Congress because I saw lawmakers, particularly in Congress, who have never experienced taking care of a patient, discussing, and setting the stage for how you're supposed to run a medical practice. Today is no different. And it is deeply frustrating to see individuals discussing procedures with little understanding of how or why they're performed, and how they affect the patients involved. Both the mother and the baby.

Throughout my time as an OBGYN, I've taken care of women with ectopic pregnancies, never any hesitation, that does not change after a Supreme Court decision. I've taken care of women who unfortunately were suffering from miscarriages and will not change after a Supreme Court decision. I have had cases where a woman had an abortion at another location and then presented to my hospital in a crisis because of complications.

And without hesitation, I would render care to those patients, irrespective of any Supreme Court decision. Many of those cases indeed, were life threatening, but each and every time my responsibility was to step in and save a life. And again, that's done without hesitation. Supreme Court decision changes none of that, despite the heated rhetoric we're hearing from the other side. It seems like a simple answer, have an abortion, take care of a problem.

Back in 1973, when Roe vs. Wade was first decided Medical Sonography was really just beginning. And in the time since then, it has really developed into a science into itself. In fact, two generations of Americans since Roe vs. Wade were just decided, as their first picture in their baby book, an ultrasound picture or maybe a videotape of themselves as unborn children.

Indeed, two generations of Americans have no trouble assigning agency to that pregnancy, because they know from whence, they came. And abortion is a highly complex and deeply emotional decision. The decision affects yes, the mother, no question, it affects the baby, other family members, and yes, it affects the provider as well.

My belief and little Right-to-Life has influenced my professional career for much longer than my time in Congress. I will remain committed to that. After a lifetime to get dedicated to prolife work. There is no question. It is just the right thing to do. Your always on the right side of life, you always give life a chance.

This rule also includes consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act. Yesterday in the Rules Committee, there were a lot of amendments submitted. There are a lot of amendments we're going to debate on the floor. Most of them are amendments submitted by Democrats, Republicans got very few of those.

I submitted two amendments to require reports to Congress on our military response in Ukraine and the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan last August, something that we cannot allow to be repeated. Russia invaded Ukraine in February. And yet we have not had another briefing by the Generals and State Department. As we did prior to that invasion. The situation is vastly different on the ground, and we were given the impression that it would not take long for Russia to completely overrun Ukraine, didn't anticipate the response of the Ukrainian people. And now we see a war of attrition evolving, but Congress is not reading into any of the administration's plans.

And then finally, we've got to ensure that the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan is fully investigated and understood. What advice was the President receiving? From whom did he receive it, and how do we prevent that from ever happening again? I thank the gentleman for yielding the additional time and I will yield back.

###