[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 14 (Tuesday, January 29, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H539]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            SUNSET MEMORIAL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Franks) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, because the end of the hour grows 
close, I would now come before this body with a sunset memorial. We 
intend to repeat this from time to time to chronicle the loss of life 
by abortion on demand in this country.
  Mr. Speaker, it is January 29, 2008, in the land of the free and the 
home of the brave, and before the sun sets today in America, almost 
4,000 more defenseless unborn children were killed by abortion on 
demand just today.
  Exactly 35 years today, the tragic judicial fiat called Roe v. Wade 
was handed down. Since then, the very foundation of this Nation has 
been stained by the blood of almost 50 million children. Mr. Speaker, 
that is more than 16,000 times the number of innocent lives lost on 
September 11.
  Each of the 4,000 children that we lost today had at least four 
things in common. They were each just little babies who had done 
nothing wrong to anyone. And each one of them died a nameless and 
lonely death. And each of their mothers, whether she realizes it 
immediately or not, will never be the same. And all the gifts that 
these children might have brought to humanity are now lost forever.
  Mr. Speaker, those noble heroes lying in frozen silence out in 
Arlington National Cemetery did not die so America could shred her own 
Constitution, as well as her own children, by the millions. It seems 
that we are never quite so eloquent as when we decry the genocidal 
crimes of past generations, those who allowed their courts to strip the 
black man and the Jew of their constitutional personhood, and then 
proceeded to murderously desecrate millions of these, God's own 
children.
  Yet even in the full glare of such tragedy, this generation clings to 
blindness and invincible ignorance while history repeats itself and our 
own genocide mercilessly annihilates the most helpless of all victims 
to date, those yet unborn.
  Perhaps it is important for those of us in this Chamber to remind 
ourselves again of why we are really all here.
  Thomas Jefferson said, ``The care of human life and its happiness and 
not its destruction is the chief and only object of good government.''
  Mr. Speaker, protecting the lives of our innocent citizens and their 
constitutional rights is why we are all here. It is our sworn oath. The 
phrase in the 14th amendment capsulizes our entire Constitution. It 
says: ``No state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property 
without due process of law.''
  The bedrock foundation of this Republic is the Declaration, not the 
casual notion, but the Declaration of the self-evident truth that all 
human beings are created equal and endowed by their creator with the 
unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 
Every conflict and battle our Nation has ever faced can be traced to 
our commitment to this core self-evident truth. It has made us the 
beacon of hope for the entire world. It is who we are.

  And yet today, Mr. Speaker, in this body we fail to honor that 
commitment. We fail our sworn oath and our God-given responsibility as 
we broke faith with nearly 4,000 innocent American babies who died 
without the protection we should have been given them.
  And so for them in this moment, Mr. Speaker, without yielding my 
time, I would invite anyone inclined to join me for a moment of silence 
on their behalf.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe that this discussion tonight presents this 
Congress and the American people with two destiny questions.
  The first that all of us must ask ourselves is very simple: Does 
abortion really kill a baby? If the answer to that question is ``yes,'' 
there is a second destiny question that inevitably follows. And it is 
this, Mr. Speaker: Will we allow ourselves to be dragged by those who 
have lost their way into a darkness where the light of human compassion 
has gone out and the predatory survival of the fittest prevails over 
humanity? Or will America embrace her destiny to lead the world to 
cherish and honor the God-given miracle of each human life?
  Mr. Speaker, it has been said that every baby comes with a message, 
that God has not yet despaired of mankind. And I mourn that those 4,000 
messages sent to us today will never be heard. Mr. Speaker, I also have 
not yet despaired. Because tonight maybe someone new, maybe even 
someone in this Congress, who heard this sunset memorial will finally 
realize that abortion really does kill a baby, that it hurts mothers 
more than anyone else, and that nearly 50 million dead children in 
America is enough. And that America is great enough to find a better 
way than abortion on demand.
  So tonight, Mr. Speaker, may we each remind ourselves that our own 
days in this sunshine of life are numbered and that all too soon each 
of us will walk from these Chambers for the very last time.
  And if it should be that this Congress is allowed to convene on 
another day yet to come, may that be the day that we hear the cries of 
the unborn at last. May that be the day we find the humanity, the 
courage, and the will to embrace together our human and our 
constitutional duty to protect the least of these, our tiny American 
brothers and sisters, from this murderous scourge upon our Nation 
called abortion on demand.
  This is a sunset memorial, Mr. Speaker. It is January 29, 2008, in 
the land of free and the home of the brave.

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