[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 19 (Wednesday, February 6, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E128-E129]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            SUNSET MEMORIAL

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. TRENT FRANKS

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 6, 2008

  Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Madam Speaker, it is February 6, 2008, in the 
land of the free and the home of the brave and before the sun set today 
in America, almost 4,000 more defenseless unborn children were killed 
by abortion on demand--just today. That is more than the number of 
innocent American lives that we lost on September 11, only it happens 
every day.
  It has now been exactly 12,798 days since 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. And all of them 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.
  Madam 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 condemn 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.''
  Madam 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

[[Page E129]]

core self-evident truth. It has made us the beacon of hope for the 
entire world. It is who we are.
  And yet another day has passed, Madam Speaker, and we in this body 
have failed again to honor that commitment. We failed our sworn oath 
and our God-given responsibility as we broke faith with nearly 4,000 
more innocent American babies who died without the protection we should 
have given them.
  Madam Speaker, I believe that this discussion 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 is ``yes,'' there is a 
second destiny question that inevitably follows.
  And it is this, Madam 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?
  Madam 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. Madam 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 in 
ways that we can never express, and that 12,798 days spent legally 
killing nearly 50 million children in America is enough. And perhaps 
they will realize that America is great enough to find a better way 
than abortion on demand.
  So tonight, Madam 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 yet 
another day to come, may that be the day when 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.
  It is February 6, 2008--12,798 days since Roe v. Wade--in the land of 
the free and the home of the brave.

                          ____________________