[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 20 (Thursday, February 7, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H796-H797]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2015
                            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, it is February 7, 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, and that's 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 12,799 days since the tragic judicial fiat 
called Roe v. Wade was handed down. Since then the very foundation of 
this Nation has

[[Page H797]]

been stained by the blood of almost 50 million of our own children. And 
all of them, Mr. Speaker, had at least four things in common.
  First, they were each just little babies who had done nothing wrong 
to anyone. Each one of them died a nameless and lonely death. And each 
of their mothers, whether she realizes it or not, will never be quite 
the same. And all the gifts these children might have brought to this 
humanity are now lost forever.
  Yet, even in the full glare of such tragedy, Mr. Speaker, this 
generation clings to blindness and invincible ignorance while history 
repeats itself, and our own silent genocide mercilessly annihilates the 
most helpless of all victims to date, those yet unborn.
  Mr. Speaker, perhaps it's important for 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 only object of good government.''
  Mr. Speaker, protecting the lives of our innocent citizens and their 
constitutional rights is why we are all still 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 or 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, Mr. Speaker, another day has passed, and we, in this body, 
have failed again to honor that commitment. We've 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 that we 
should have given them.
  But perhaps tonight, Mr. Speaker, maybe someone new who's 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 
12,799 days spent killing nearly 50 million unborn children in America 
is enough, and that this Nation 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 yet another day 
to come, may that be the day when we finally hear the cries of the 
unborn children in this country. May that be the day when 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.
  Mr. Speaker, it is February 7, 2008, 12,799 days since Roe v. Wade 
first stained the very foundation of this Nation with the blood of its 
own children, this in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

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