Strong stuff from Dem Rep. Jackie Speier of California, who delivered an emotional speech on the House floor last night, revealing she had an abortion as she dressed down a Republican colleague for trivialing the decisionmaking that goes into deciding whether to undergo the procedure:

The debate was over GOP Rep. Mike Pence’s drive to defund Planned Parenthood. Speier’s outburst was triggered by GOP Rep. Chris Smith, who had read aloud graphic descriptions of abortion from a book only moments before. Speier responded:

“I really planned to speak about something else. But the gentleman from New Jersey just put my stomach in knots. Because I’m one of those women he spoke about just now. I had a procedure at 17 weeks pregnant with a child who moved from the vagina into the cervix. And that procedure that you just described is a procedure that I endured.

“I lost the baby. And for you to stand on this floor and suggest that somehow this is a procedure that is either welcomed or done cavalierly or done without any thought, is preposterous.”

Video and more at link.