[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 30 (Monday, February 25, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H1020]
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. Madam Speaker, I once again stand before this 
body with yet another sunset memorial. It is February 25, 2008, in the 
land of the free and the home of the brave, and before the sun set 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 
Americans lost in September 11's tragedy, only it happens every day.
  Madam Speaker, it has now been exactly 12,817 days since the travesty 
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 of its 
own children. Some of them, Madam Speaker, cried and screamed as they 
died, but because it was amniotic fluid passing over the vocal cords 
instead of air, we couldn't hear them.
  All of them had at least four things in common. 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 immediately or not, will never be the same. And all the 
gifts these children might have brought to humanity are now lost 
forever.
  Yet, even in the full glare of such tragedy, this generation clings 
to a blind invincible ignorance while history repeats itself and our 
own silent genocide mercilessly annihilates the most helpless of all 
victims yet to date, those unborn.
  Madam Speaker, perhaps it's 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.''
  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.''
  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 bedrock foundation of this Republic is that clarion 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, Madam Speaker, another day has passed and we in this body 
have failed again to honor that foundational 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 today without the 
protection we should have given them.
  But perhaps tonight, Madam Speaker, maybe someone who hears this 
sunset memorial will finally realize that abortion really does kill 
little babies, and that it hurts mothers in ways that we can never 
express, and that 12,817 days spent killing nearly 50 million unborn 
children in America is enough, and that America, that same America that 
rejected human slavery and marched into Europe to arrest the Nazi 
Holocaust is still courageous and compassionate enough to find a better 
way for mothers and their babies than abortion on demand.
  So tonight, Madam Speaker, may we each remind ourselves that our own 
days in this sunshine of life are also numbered, and that all too soon 
each one 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 innocent unborn. 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 these, the least of our tiny little 
brothers and sisters, from this murderous scourge called abortion on 
demand.
  It is February 25, 2008, Madam Speaker, 12,817 days since Roe v. Wade 
first stained the 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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