[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 2 (Thursday, January 5, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E34]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


         WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE, SMITH MURDERS OR THOSE ABORTED?

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                     HON. RANDY ``DUKE'' CUNNINGHAM

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, January 4, 1995
  Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to call my colleagues' 
attention to a recent commentary from the News Reporter of San Marcos 
in the 51st District of California.
  My constituent, D.J. Skinner Ross of San Marcos, raises some 
interesting questions about the recent tragic double murder of the 
Smith children in South Carolina. I urge my colleagues to read ``A 
Question of Murder,'' as it offers a unique perspective on this sad 
case and on the larger issue of ethics in our society.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend ``A Question of Murder'' to the House and ask 
that it be printed in the Congressional Record at this point.
           [From the San Marcos News Reporter, Nov. 16, 1994]

        What's the Difference, Smith Murders, or Those Aborted?

                           (By Skinner Ross)

       I'm a little confused regarding some peoples' stand on 
     murder, specifically the murder of defenseless children.
       The nation, perhaps the world, is horrified and incensed 
     over the killings of the little Smith boys. To learn that the 
     killer was their own mother was almost more than all of us 
     could bear. Many were, and still are, threatening to murder 
     her.
       Here is where I am confused:
       (1) Where are the Women's Rights groups?
       (2) Where are the Freedom of Choice groups?
       (3) Where is the politically-powerful American Civil 
     Liberties Union?
       Mrs. Smith could use your support during this terrifying, 
     lonely time in her life. Mrs. Smith could use some of the 
     ACLU's legal backing.
       After all, her side of the story is no different now than 
     it would have been five years and seven or eight months ago . 
     . . or even as recently as 19 or 20 months ago: These babies 
     were interfering with the lifestyle she wished to follow.
       They were a nuisance. They were fathered by a man she 
     didn't love. (A little like rape, don't you agree?)
       So I ask all the ``rights'' groups, Where are you now?
       Before these little boys were given names and toys and 
     birthday parties, you would have pounded your fists on your 
     podiums and shouted obscenities at anyone who would dare to 
     say she did not have the ``right'' to take their ``right to 
     live'' away from them.
       Where is your courage to defend her now? Nothing has really 
     changed.
       Those little boys' hearts were beating in their mother's 
     womb every bit as strongly as they were in the cold ``womb'' 
     of that car's back seat. Their cries for help would have been 
     as soundless in her womb as they were in that sinking car.
       The only difference between this murder and the murder of 
     abortion is the sweet, defenseless babies killed in a 
     mother's womb drown in amnionic fluid. These sweet, 
     defenseless little boys drowned in the fluid of a cold, murky 
     lake.
       So I ask, in cases such as these, exactly whose ``rights'' 
     have been wronged?
     

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