[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 13392]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             PRO-LIFE ACTION MUST ORIGINATE FROM PRINCIPLE

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, June 2, 2003

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, as an obstetrician who has delivered over 4000 
children, I have long been concerned with the rights of unborn people. 
I believe this is the greatest moral issue of our time. The very best 
of the western intellectual tradition has understood the critical link 
between moral and political action. Each of these disciplines should 
strongly inform and support the other.
  I have become increasingly concerned over the years that the pro-life 
movement I so strongly support is getting further off track, both 
politically and morally. I sponsored the original pro-life amendment, 
which used a constitutional approach to solve the crisis of 
federalization of abortion law by the courts. The pro-life movement was 
with me and had my full support and admiration.
  Those who cherish unborn life have become frustrated by our inability 
to overturn or significantly curtail Roe v. Wade. Because of this, 
attempts were made to fight against abortion using political 
convenience rather than principle. There is nothing wrong per se with 
fighting winnable battles, but a danger exists when political 
pragmatism requires the pro-life movement to surrender important moral 
and political principles.
  When we surrender constitutional principles, we do untold damage to 
the moral underpinnings on which our Constitution and entire system of 
government rest. Those underpinnings are the inalienable right to life, 
liberty, and property. Commenting upon the link between our most 
important rights, Thomas Jefferson said ``The God which gave us life 
gave us at the same time liberty. The hands of force may destroy but 
can never divide these.''
  M. Stanton Evans further explained the link between our form of 
government and the rights it protects when he wrote, ``The genius of 
the Constitution is its division of powers--summed up in that clause 
reserving to the several states, or the people, all powers not 
expressly granted to the federal government.''
  Pro-lifers should be fiercely loyal to this system of federalism, 
because the very same Constitution that created the federal system also 
asserts the inalienable right to life. In this way, our constitutional 
system closely links federalism to the fundamental moral rights to 
life, liberty, and property. For our Founders it was no exaggeration to 
say federalism is the means by which life, as well as liberty and 
property, are protected in this nation. This is why the recent 
direction of the pro-life cause is so disturbing.
  Pro-life forces have worked for the passage of bills that disregard 
the federal system, such as the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, the 
federal cloning ban, and the Child Custody Protection Act. Each of 
these bills rested on specious constitutional grounds and undermined 
the federalism our Founders recognized and intended as the greatest 
protection of our most precious rights.
  Each of these bills transfers to the federal government powers 
constitutionally retained by the states, thus upsetting the separation 
and balance of powers that federalism was designed to guarantee. To 
undermine federalism is to indirectly surrender the very principle upon 
which the protection of our inalienable right to life depends.
  The worst offender of federalism is the so-called Unborn Victims of 
Violence Act, which not only indirectly surrenders the pro-life 
principle but actually directly undercuts the right to life by granting 
a specific exemption to abortionists! This exemption essentially allows 
some to take life with the sanction of federal law. By supporting this 
legislation, pro-lifers are expressly condoning a legal exemption for 
abortionists--showing just how far astray some in the pro-life 
community have gone.
  Even the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, which is an integral part of 
the current pro-life agenda, present a dilemma. While I have always 
supported this Act and plan to do so in the future, I realize that it 
raises questions of federalism because authority over criminal law is 
constitutionally retained by the states. The only reason a federal law 
has any legitimacy in this area is that the Supreme Court took it upon 
itself to federalize abortion via Roe v. Wade. Accordingly, wrestling 
the abortion issue from the federal courts and putting it back in the 
hands of the elected legislature comports with the Founder's view of 
the separation of powers that protects our rights to life, liberty, and 
property.
  Given these dilemmas, what should those of us in the pro-life 
community do? First, we must return to constitutional principles and 
proclaim them proudly. We must take a principled approach that 
recognizes both moral and political principles, and accepts the close 
relationship between them. Legislatively, we should focus our efforts 
on building support to overturn Roe v. Wade. Ideally this would be done 
in a fashion that allows states to again ban or regulate abortion. 
State legislatures have always had proper jurisdiction over issues like 
abortion and cloning; the pro-life movement should recognize that 
jurisdiction and not encroach upon it. The alternative is an outright 
federal ban on abortion, done properly via a constitutional amendment 
that does no violence to our way of government.
  If the next version of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act reads like 
past versions in the House, I will likely support it despite the 
dilemmas outlined here. I cannot support, however, a bill like the 
proposed Senate version of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban that 
reaffirms Roe v. Wade.
  For the pro-life cause to truly succeed without undermining the very 
freedoms that protect life, it must return to principle and uphold our 
Founder's vision of federalism as an essential component of the 
American system. Undermining federalism ultimately can only undermine 
the very mechanism that protects the right to life.

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