mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman for yielding me time . 
last wednesday this house passed h.r. 748 , the child interstate abortion notification act , ciana . 
it was a bipartisan vote . 
it was 270 to 156 ; 63 percent of this house voted for this bill . 
and as was mentioned before , 54 democrats , almost two-thirds of this house voted for this bill . 
now , enacting ciana was critical . 
it is very , very important to better protect young girls from falling prey to abusive boyfriends and older men and ensuring that parents have the opportunity to be involved in their daughters ' medical decisions . 
ciana accomplished this , both these purposes , first by making it a criminal offense to transport a minor across state lines in order to obtain an abortion in another state and avoiding a parental notification law in that state . 
the second purpose is accomplished by requiring that a parent or legal guardian is notified that an abortion is going to be performed on their daughter . 
the bill was carefully crafted to prevent those who do not have the minor 's best interests , and more than likely they have already committed statutory rape or incest , from being able to destroy critical evidence through an abortion . 
statistics demonstrate that the incident of statutory rape is occurring with increasing frequency . 
moreover , the number of incest cases is becoming all too prevalent . 
the amendments that are at issue here that were offered during the full judiciary committee markup would have broadened the categories of individuals who could be exempted from the bill 's reach , thus increasing the likelihood that these provisions could be exploited . 
for example , the amendments offered to exempt taxicab drivers , as has been mentioned , bus drivers , and others in the business of public transport , clergy , godparents , aunts , uncles , first cousins of the minor , grandparents or adult siblings , it would have given any of those individuals who may be sexually abusing a young girl , in essence , a safe harbor , thus defeating the primary purpose of ciana . 
the characterizations of the amendments , as reflected in the committee report , accurately describe the safe harbor that would be afforded to abusive men through the amendments offered . 
now , was that the intention of the proponents of the amendments ? 
certainly not . 
but could it be the result , if the amendments had passed ? 
yes , it could . 
the american people overwhelmingly support laws that require parents to be notified before a minor has an abortion . 
in march 2005 , 75 percent of 1 , 500 registered voters indicated their support for parental notification laws . 
the fundamental rights of parents in parental notification laws are supported by supreme court precedent . 
amendments that alter and allow these laws to be exploited should have been defeated , and they were . 
i urge my colleagues to defeat this resolution . 
