[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 7, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H66]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Broun) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I believe that there is no greater 
moral issue that America faces that is more important than the killing 
of 4,000 babies every day through abortion. God cannot and will not 
continue to bless America while we're killing those innocent unborn 
children.
  As we ring in the new year and begin the 111th Congress, the need to 
protect the unborn remains front and center in the national political 
debate. Each year, in keeping with my promise to my constituents and 
many around the country that the first bill that I will introduce 
provides constitutional protections to unborn children, today I'm 
honored to introduce the Sanctity of Human Life Act, H.R. 227, that 
defines life beginning at fertilization with the creation of a human 
zygote, a one-celled human being.
  As a physician, I understand the medical and scientific truths that 
life begins at fertilization. I also understand that the entire 
abortion debate rests on the decision of when life begins. That's why 
my bill, among other things, says unequivocally that at the moment of 
fertilization, when this spermatozoa enters the cell wall of the oocyte 
and forms that one-celled human being, the zygote, that a human life 
begins and must be protected under law.
  As James Madison wrote in Federalist 39, the form of our government 
must be ``reconcilable with the fundamental principles of the 
revolution,'' the American Revolution. First among those principles is 
the right to life. If a nation will not protect the most innocent of 
human beings, who will we protect? Concerned citizens and lawmakers 
must keep this fundamental principle in mind as we work fervently to 
protect the rights of unborn children.
  When I was a full-time doctor prior to coming to Congress, I served 
on the board of directors for a crisis pregnancy center in inner-city 
Atlanta, Georgia. We were fighting to save babies of underprivileged 
moms, many black moms in Atlanta. From a statistical standpoint, more 
black babies are being killed proportionately through abortion than 
white babies, and we were working to save those children.
  I'm using the tools that my constituents have blessed me with to 
protect life and give constitutional protections to the innocent 
unborn. My bill, the Sanctity of Human Life Act, gives Republicans and 
Democrats alike who cherish life an opportunity to protect and defend 
the innocent and most defenseless among us.
  We need to pass the Sanctity of Human Life Act. I encourage my 
colleagues to get on this bill, support this bill, bring it to the 
floor for a vote, and stop killing these unborn children so God will 
continue to bless America.

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