[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 27 (Friday, March 11, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 11, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
              RUTH V.K. PAKALUK HIGH SCHOOL ESSAY CONTEST

                                 ______


                           HON. HENRY J. HYDE

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 10, 1994

  Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to provide my colleagues with the 
three winning essays in the recent Ruth V.K. Pakaluk High School essay 
contest conducted by the Massachusetts Citizens for Life. The quality 
and depth of thought reflected in this year's winning essays are a 
source of encouragement to the entire pro-life movement.
  The winning essays follow:

                             [First Place]

                The First Human Right--The Right to Life

                          (By Theresa Foster)

     Mother feels the stirring inside,
     An esoteric, lyrical language of motions.
     She is but a novice at this game of sorts, and
     Can't read every signal, yet somehow she understands.
     When the Inward Entity relays its insatiable demands,
     She, The Outward Matrix, extends her largess.
     How enchanting a love affair of soul and spirit, where
     Words are exchanged only through songs of the body.

     Every day, everywhere, Mothers are denied such delight.
     Rampant are beliefs in the inordinate mendacities of
     They were espouse perverse standards of choice;
     They who give credence to ``inconvenient pregnancy'' and
     Prioritize convenience over responsibility;
     They who may legally suction and cut, and injure and murder;
     They who counsel strategic warfare on one's body and spirit,
     And claim ignorance to the consequences.
     What illusion and trickery is used to conform to standings of
     Misanthropy?

     It is the utter dearth of the quality of human sanctity.
     The ruling of Roe had burned Respect in effigy.
     The conflagration has consumed millions upon
     Millions of lives, and has engulfed a people in suffering.
     We've lost so many seeds that would have ramified root
     Systems of law, burgeoned skyward into stems of science, and
     Blossomed beautifully as petals of literature.

     The societal casualty on this battlefield is great; there is 
           no
     Longer a common perception of what is sacrosanct.
     One's ineffable joy of pregnancy is another's anathema.
     While one woman prays to become a mother, another sloughs off
     The skin of motherhood.
     Life is not a choice.
     Life is a privilege given us, not by our parents, but by God.
     Our existence is in the hands of God, and it is
     By His decree that we are created or destroyed.
     A charlatan false god holding silver instruments by the eerie
     Yellow luminescence, has no right to defame a creation of 
           God's.
     When God made us human at that conceptual moment,
     He gave us the right to live, and entrusted us to respect
     Human existence. In this endeavor, we have sorely failed.
     All that is left is to lament those we've lost,
     And pray for a safe arrival of those to come.
                                  ____


                             [Second Place]

                     Adoption Is the Loving Choice

                           (By Oskar Hallig)

       Now, in my Senior year of high school, I often think of the 
     blessings of life I have experienced that abortion could and 
     would have taken away. Eighteen years ago, last August, I was 
     adopted by two very loving people who have done everything in 
     their power to make my life as rich and fulfilling as 
     possible. I am eternally grateful to my biological mother for 
     granting me the right to experience all the wonderful 
     blessings that God's world has to offer.
       Adoption does work, it is a way for those who want children 
     and can't have them to become parents and also for the 
     innocent children to live. Most of these people would be 
     great parents because they actually want the children and are 
     willing to put the time into giving them a good life. As we 
     cannot deny the right to be a parent, we certainly can't deny 
     the right for the child to live. Since there are so many 
     willing adults to adopt out in the world, how can we condemn 
     the unborn to death? All of the unborn are God's children and 
     we can't willingly murder them just because their biological 
     parents do not want them.
       To think if I had not been adopted I would just be another 
     figure, a dead child. I would never have been given the 
     chance to know what this wonderful world had to offer. I 
     would never have been able to play ball or run around and 
     have fun with my friends. My biological mother knew that she 
     was not ready to have me so she gave me to those that were. 
     Rather than ending my life because I came at an inopportune 
     moment, she decided to let me live and enjoy what she had 
     been able to experience. How can this right be denied to all 
     of the poor children that are brutally murdered by abortion 
     each and every day? Are these children not also good enough 
     to have a chance at life? How can we say that because one 
     woman does not want a particular child all women do not? 
     There is a mother out there for every child and there is no 
     excuse for this massacre of innocent children.
       In conclusion, adoption is the loving alternative to 
     abortion. The mere chance at life is better than death. 
     Nothing can be more loving than the chance to experience 
     God's creation. We must make adoption a more viable 
     alternative because all children have a place in the world 
     and we need to stop killing them and taking their God given 
     rights away.
                                  ____


                             [Third Place]

                The First Human Right--The Right to Life

                         (By Gwendolyn MacKay)

       On October sixteenth Isabella is conceived. Every day she 
     changes and grows as she is nourished by the food her mother, 
     Nina, sends through the umbilical cord. Her microscopic body 
     is developing more rapidly now than it ever will again. 
     Isabella is growing limbs, hands and feet. By November 
     sixteenth Isabella's heart is beginning to beat. A month 
     later she is an inch and a half long and all her organs are 
     in place. As of February sixteenth Isa can move her lips, 
     turn her head, grasp her hands and frown. Isa is kicking her 
     feet now. She opens her eyes on May sixteenth.
       Nina is driving to Tedeschi's for milk and pickles. She 
     beeped at the driver ahead of her. When Isa heard the horn 
     she jumped and her heartbeat quickened. Then her leg grazed 
     her little body and, not knowing what it was, she was 
     startled and her body jerked. Every time Nina speaks to Isa, 
     Isa does somersaults.
       The American Heritage Dictionary defines life as the 
     quality manifested in functions such as metabolism, growth, 
     response to stimulation and reproduction by which living 
     organisms are distinguished from dead organisms or inanimate 
     matter. Isabella began metabolic activity, growth and 
     responses to stimulation on October sixteenth. Isabella is 
     alive. She was given her own individual life on October 
     sixteenth. As a living human being Isabella deserves to be 
     protected by the Constitution. The first human right is the 
     right to life. This right includes unborn babies. There is no 
     magic moment after conception and during pregnancy that gives 
     babies sudden life like Pinnochio. The only magic moment is 
     conception.
       Many people have fought for certain rights. Women demanded 
     Women's rights, Blacks demanded Blacks' rights . . . Who will 
     fight for the rights of unborn babies? We cannot hear them 
     fighting for rights but they are equal people deserving equal 
     rights. We have to demand their right to life. Maybe in 
     return someday they will fight for us for a better world.

                          ____________________