[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 5, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H1317-H1318]
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, it is March 5, 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 were lost on September 11th, only it 
happens every day.
  It has now been exactly 12,826 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 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.
  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 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 
a blind, 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.''
  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.'' 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 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 another day has passed, Mr. Speaker, and we in this body have 
failed again to honor that foundational 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 today without the 
protection we should have given them.

[[Page H1318]]

  Mr. 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, 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 hears this sunset memorial will finally 
realize that abortion really does kill little babies, that it hurts 
mothers in ways that we can never express, and that 12,826 days spent 
legally killing nearly 50 million children in America is enough, and 
that the 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, Mr. Speaker, may we each remind ourselves that our own 
days in this sunshine of life are also 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 innocent unborn. 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 March 5, 2008--12,826 days since Roe v. Wade--in the land of 
free and the home of the brave.

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