[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 13 (Tuesday, January 24, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H675]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         PROTECTING THE UNBORN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2017, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. 
Franks) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, it is a new day in America. I am 
very gratified that we now have a President that looks differently upon 
the innocent unborn than did the last one.
  Mr. Speaker, protecting the lives of all Americans and their 
constitutional rights is why we are all here in this place. 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 certain inalienable rights: the rights of life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
  Every conflict and every battle our Nation has ever faced can be 
traced to this core commitment to this self-evident truth. It has made 
us the beacon of hope for the entire world, Mr. Speaker. It is who we 
are. Yet, today, another day has passed and we in this body have still 
failed to honor that foundational commitment.
  While we move in the right direction, we have still failed our sworn 
oath and our God-given responsibility, as more than 3,000 additional 
American babies died today without the protection we should have 
already given them.
  So, Mr. Speaker, let me just say, in the hopes that we will finally 
embrace the truth that abortion really does kill little babies, that it 
is time we looked up together again and looked to the Declaration of 
Independence and that we remember that we are the same America that 
rejected human slavery and that marched into Europe to arrest the Nazi 
Holocaust and that we are the courageous and compassionate nation that 
can find a better way for mothers and their unborn children than 
abortion on demand.
  It is a new day in America, Mr. Speaker, and we all have a glorious 
new opportunity to make a better world and for America to be the one 
that leads the rest of the planet, just as we did in the days of 
slavery, from this tragic genocide of murdering more than 3,000 of our 
own children every day.
  So now, Mr. Speaker, as we consider the plight of the unborn after 44 
years under Roe v. Wade, may we each remind ourselves that our own days 
in this sunshine of life are all numbered and that all too soon each 
one of us will also walk from this Chamber for the very last time.
  But if it should be that we are allowed to convene again on yet 
another day, may that be the day, Mr. Speaker, when we finally hear the 
cries of these little babies. 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 has been 44 years, Mr. Speaker, since Roe v. Wade first stained 
the foundation of this Nation with the blood of its own children. But, 
thankfully, it is a new day in the land of the free and home of the 
brave. By the grace of God, help is finally on the way.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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