[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 448-452]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             RIGHT TO LIFE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 18, 2007, the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Mrs. Bachmann) is 
recognized for 60 minutes.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Mr. Speaker, it truly is a momentous evening this 
evening and the entire day here on the March for Life that occurred 
here on our Nation's capital, and it is a privilege for me to be here 
as a freshman Member of Congress, hailing from the very cold State of 
Minnesota, to be able to be here on this floor on this momentous 
occasion.
  We heard so many eloquent speakers, led by Trent Franks, a man who 
has a great love for people, not just a love for babies, not just a 
love for women. He has a love for people, and I am so grateful for the 
wonderful hour that he just led. We have other Members of Congress, Mr. 
Speaker, who have come down to this Chamber because they are moved by 
this issue, not just for their love for babies or their love for women 
or love for men, but they are moved by many factors that go to increase 
our Nation and the natural resources that are in our Nation.
  One of those is Mr. Bishop who is from Utah's First District, and he 
would like to speak for a few moments on the floor of Congress.
  Mr. BISHOP of Utah. I thank the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Mrs. 
Bachmann) and the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Franks) leading this 
discussion.
  As I walked past the Supreme Court this evening, remnants of the two 
groups were protesting this very issue, one dealing with a press 
conference, the other marching in chants in a way that was really more 
appropriate to a high school pep rally than to this particular issue.
  And I was saddened because this is one of those issues that should 
never be simplified into simply chants or slogans or sound bites 
because this issue is one that deals with the soul of this particular 
country. For when we have a cavalier attitude about life at the 
beginning of the cycle, we tend to develop a cavalier attitude about 
life at the end of the cycle. And then for those areas in between, we 
tend to look at life not

[[Page 449]]

in terms of its sanctity but in its quality of life.
  I firmly believe that man is both perfectable and savable. But we are 
perfectable and savable not in the ease in which we make our lives or 
the material possessions which we can accumulate, but in our 
relationships with others and our development of our families.
  I appreciate being able to add my voice to this particular 
discussion, and I appreciate the representative from Arizona, as well 
as the gentlewoman from Minnesota, for leading these two hours because 
this discussion is truly about the very heart of this country and where 
we go.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. I thank Mr. Bishop so much. The people from the First 
District of Utah have to be so proud of you, especially on the issue of 
life.
  Mr. Speaker, now I would like to introduce the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Garrett) for whom I have a great deal of respect. He has a 
tremendous story to tell, and I yield to Mr. Garrett.
  Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlelady for 
managing this hour as Members come to the floor to speak about this 
extremely important topic.
  I must begin my remarks by thanking everyone who took part earlier 
today, all those folks who traveled down here to Washington to 
participate in the annual Right to Life March from all over the 
country, in bad bus rides and distant flight delays and bumpy car 
rides. I am grateful to all the marchers who came from the great State 
of New Jersey. Particularly, I would like to recognize the students 
from Pope John High School and also the kids from Veritas Christian 
Academy located in Sparta, as well as some of the parishioners who came 
down from Our Lady of Fatima in Vernon, St. Jude's Church in 
Blairstown, Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Stillwater, and the folks from 
Lafayette Federated Church from Lafayette.
  I didn't include everyone, but the list would go on and on with all 
of the people from the great State of New Jersey, people concerned and 
taking part to make sure that their voice was heard.
  Earlier today I had the opportunity, and I would say the honor of 
speaking to the thousands of marchers who came out. They braved the 
freezing wind and the rain that was coming on as well. As I had a 
chance to talk to them, I told them that they, along with Members of 
Congress, were probably experiencing mixed emotions at the time, 
similar to the emotions I was experiencing.
  Think about it, on the one hand, we are immensely encouraged by what 
we see. We are encouraged that so many people have gathered here in 
Washington, DC to mark the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. We 
draw comfort from that fact. We are encouraged that our Nation has not 
forgotten that tragic death even 35 years later. We are encouraged that 
we can stand firm in reminding our fellow citizens that all men are 
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. And most 
importantly of all, is the right to life.
  Finally, we are encouraged that in many cases, our efforts have been 
rewarded. For instance, the number of abortions that are performed 
annually has actually dropped down back to levels not seen since the 
1970s. Still, despite those signs of encouragement, our hearts are 
still heavy with sadness and that is because we mourn the millions of 
babies who have been mercilessly killed before they can even take their 
first single breath. And we grieve for the mothers and fathers who 
suffer from the emotional pain of having to have gone through an 
abortion.
  We lament the fact of a continuing decline of morality, civility, and 
respect for human dignity and worth. For me and my constituents in New 
Jersey, I am particularly disheartened by a study that was released 
just last week that showed that our home State, the so-called Garden 
State, has the second highest abortion rate in the Nation.
  It is in moments like these that we must turn our gaze upward and 
remember the One, the One who created life is also the One who governs 
the universe. He commands us to ``run and not be weary, to walk and not 
faint.''
  And so today, we ultimately find encouragement in knowing that the 
battle is not over. The battle is not ours alone, and the might of 
right is on our side.
  So we will keep working to increase the number of States that have 
substantive parental involvement laws, thereby protecting teens from 
the abortion propaganda. We will continue to prohibit partial-birth 
abortions and fight that in other States as well. And we will show by 
example how to value life.
  Finally, some day I pray that we will experience a January 22 free of 
these mixed emotions. And instead, we will be able to celebrate a 
renewed culture of life in this entire Nation.
  We elected officials come to the floor to remember the weakest among 
us. Yet I know we will succeed not because of who we are, but because 
of what Americans all across this great Nation are doing on behalf of 
life.

                              {time}  2045

  Mrs. BACHMANN. Thank you, Mr. Garrett. Appreciate your kindness and 
your words of love and life for those who are our fellow Americans. 
Thank you, and thank the people of New Jersey for sending you to this 
great body.
  Now we have a man that I've known for a number of years of whom I 
just have great admiration. His name is Mr. Todd Akin from Missouri's 
Second District. I yield to Mr. Akin from Missouri.
  Mr. AKIN. Thank you very much. I'm just so thankful for your 
willingness to take this special hour and organize things here on the 
floor of the U.S. Congress, and your leadership. The people of 
Minnesota are blessed to have you, and I'm just very thankful to be 
able to be a small part.
  But one of the things that those of us who are Members of Congress 
do, as you can imagine, is that we do give speeches. We talk to 
different groups of people, young and old, on all kinds of different 
issues.
  But one of the questions that I love to ask, and it's something that 
we should know the answer to rather quickly, and yet, most Americans 
don't really have the answer quite on the tips of their tongues, and 
that would be to ask the question, what is it that has made America 
such a unique and a special place for all of us to live?
  Now, if you live here, sometimes you can take for granted some of the 
things that we enjoy every day. But America is extremely different.
  First of all, there are all these people from other countries that 
want to come here because they believe that this is the land of 
opportunity; this is where your dreams can become true.
  Aside from that, America has been engaged in a number of huge and 
colossal wars. We find ourselves as the dominant military power on the 
planet. And so through these different wars, did we create empires? Did 
we build kingdoms? The answer is, of course, no. We have named no 
emperors, no kings. In fact, what we did was we voted to tax our 
constituents to rebuild our enemies after we had defeated them.
  America is a unique and special place. But what is it that makes 
America so special? Why do all these different people from different 
nations all come together here for the American Dream? What is it, if 
you were to define it, if you're looking at it like an onion and you're 
to say you peel off the outer layers of fireworks and apple pie and the 
flag and you get to the center of what makes it tick?
  One of the words when I ask this question frequently is the word 
``freedom.'' But freedom doesn't really describe the core principle or 
the logic of on which basis America tips. You know, the people in 
Tiananmen Square, they wanted freedom. They stood up for freedom. They 
were willing to die for freedom. They were greased underneath the 
treads of tanks and they gave their lives, but they didn't get freedom.
  So what is it that produces the freedom? What is it that makes 
America what it is? What is the formula?
  Well, if I were asked that question, I would cheat a little bit. I 
would go

[[Page 450]]

 back to our first great war when America wrote a statement of what we 
believe and what we stand for as a people. It is, of course, called the 
Declaration of Independence. It was the reason why we would dare to 
challenge the biggest military power in the world. And that second 
paragraph, the sentence, ``We hold these truths to be self-evident that 
all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; 
that among these is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.'' And 
then the sentence goes on after ``pursuit of happiness,'' and says, 
``And governments are instituted among men deriving their just power 
from the consent of the governed.'' And it goes on to say, the purpose 
of the government is essentially to protect these basic rights. What 
rights? Well, life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
  So the engineer in me says, now, let's break this down. How does the 
formula that defines America work? Well, it's based on these ideas: 
One, that there is a God; second of all, that that God grants basic 
fundamental rights to all people; and lastly, the job of civil 
government is to protect those rights.
  Now, if you take a look at that equation then you say, well, what 
does that mean? Well, first of all, we can take away from that the fact 
that if you take God out of the equation, you don't have any 
fundamental rights and the whole American system starts to come 
unglued.
  Second of all, you notice that the rights are not just Americans' 
rights. These are rights for all human beings. This is a powerful idea. 
This idea is being exported overseas, and other people are enthused and 
caught up in the possibility that there is a gracious, loving God that 
gives fundamental rights to all people.
  Another rather straightforward conclusion would be this: That a 
government that does not protect the most fundamental right, the right 
of life, is a government that is not doing its job. It is broken. And 
for those of us in America over these years to have tolerated selling 
the lives of our unborn down the river of convenience, we have violated 
the most fundamental and basic logic of what America has always stood 
for.
  Abortion is so un-American. It's something that people weren't paying 
attention on, and the Court slipped it in on them, and pretty soon 
people started to wake up and say, Oh, my goodness, this is horrible. 
And all across America, people are starting now to wake up.
  Now, because of the nature of the way that the Court usurped their 
power and authority and decided to take the power to themselves to 
create law out of thin air, we have one of the most polarizing issues 
that has confronted our Nation since the days of slavery. And yet, just 
as slavery is fundamentally un-American, so, even more so, anything 
that violates the most fundamental right, the right to life, is 
contrary to everything that Americans have stood for and fought for.
  Now, some people are aware of the fact, now that we're engaged in a 
great war, a war against terrorists, should that surprise us? Well, 
think about it a little bit. What is it that terrorists believe? 
Terrorists believe that, hey, it's okay to blow up a few people to make 
a political statement.
  And what do we believe? We believe right to life is a fundamental, 
God-given right. We are completely on the opposite side of the page of 
the terrorist. The terrorist is a terrorist. And what does that mean? 
Well, it means he wants to compel you into doing something because 
you're so afraid of him. That's not very similar, is it, to what we 
believe; that God gives people the right to life and then the right to 
liberty. The right to liberty is to be able to follow your own 
conscience without being terrorized by some opponent. So it is no big 
surprise that we fight the terrorists because they are fundamentally 
un-American. And yet we have terrorists in our own culture called 
abortionists.
  One of the good pieces of news why we are winning this war is because 
there are not enough heartless doctors being graduated from medical 
schools. There is a real shortage of abortionists. Who wants to be at 
the very bottom of the food chain of the medical profession? And what 
sort of these places do these bottom-of-the-food-chain doctors work in? 
Places that are really a pit. You find that along with the culture of 
death go all kinds of other lawbreaking, the not following good 
sanitary procedures, giving abortions to women who are not actually 
pregnant, cheating on taxes, all these kinds of things, the misuse of 
anesthetic so that people die or almost die. All of these things are 
common practice. And all that information is available for America. And 
the day is coming when this public discussion will continue and America 
will say we're tired of abortion because it's so fundamentally un-
American. And this, like a bad nightmare, will pass away, and there 
will be a day, just as there is today, where people say who would ever 
support slavery. In the future there will be a day when men will say 
who would ever have supported something so un-American as abortion.
  I'm so thankful for the gentlelady for her leadership and for 
allowing us to have a time to engage in this public discussion, 
something that's not going to be done by political tricks, but by the 
conscience of the American public being raised to the point where they 
say, No more. The bad dream is over. We are going to once again honor 
what Americans have always stood for, the God-given right to life and 
liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
  God bless you.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Thank you, Mr. Akin. It was a delight to be able to 
hear you speak, Mr. Akin. I know the people of Missouri's Second are 
honored that you are their Member of Congress. That was certainly a 
heartfelt emotion that you shared with us at the microphone, and I 
thank you for bringing what for many Americans is the pivotal watershed 
issue of our day, and I thank you for speaking so eloquently to that.
  We have next before us this evening during this hour, Mr. Jeb 
Hensarling from Texas' Fifth District.
  Mr. Hensarling is a very special Member of Congress to me. He is my 
mentor here and is a giant among men in many ways. He's a giant in my 
eyes, and a giant I know for his wife, a giant for his two children.
  He lives the words that he speaks on a daily basis. There is no 
greater testimony that any man or any woman could ever have is the 
testimony of their life, and that, Mr. Hensarling, he knows very well.
  And so with that, I yield to Mr. Jeb Hensarling of Texas' Fifth 
District.
  Mr. HENSARLING. I certainly thank the gentlelady for yielding. I 
thank her for those kind words. And I must admit, at 5'6", I'm rarely 
referred to as a giant, but I certainly take it as a great compliment.
  The gentlelady from Minnesota has done great work in this body. I'm 
honored to serve with her, and I hope her constituents are very proud 
of the work that she has done. She has been a leader on so many issues 
from day one, and I thank her especially on probably the most 
fundamental question we have in American society today, for helping 
lead this Special Order today on the whole question of life.
  Mr. Speaker, I need not tell you that millions of people all across 
America are reflecting upon that Supreme Court decision of decades ago, 
Roe v. Wade. Many Americans are celebrating. Many others are mourning. 
I am mourning. I mourn that decision.
  I'm not naive. I know this question represents one of the great 
political fault lines in America today, and I know many of my 
countrymen feel quite differently than I do. But I just believe in my 
heart, I believe in my head, that there is no more fundamental right 
that we have than the right to life. And it is enshrined in our very 
founding documents that we were created. Our creator brought us into 
this world with certain unalienable rights, including the right to 
life.
  Now, again, Mr. Speaker, I can come to no other conclusion in my 
head, in my heart, than but life begins at conception. And I don't 
understand my countrymen who come to different conclusions. I don't 
hate these people. I don't disparage them. But I have great sadness 
about what has occurred because of their beliefs; that millions of

[[Page 451]]

our countrymen are not here today to take that first breath, to take 
that first walk, to go into that first dance recital, to hit that first 
baseball, to put together that first two plus two equals four, I did it 
daddy. Millions and millions of our fellow countrymen will never 
experience that moment because of what I believe to be a very 
wrongheaded and a very unconstitutional decision made many, many years 
ago.
  And so Mr. Speaker, a battle continues in this great body as a battle 
continues all across our land. And it's not just a battle to change 
laws. It is a battle to change the hearts and minds of our countrymen. 
And again, it's something that I take as an article of faith. But Mr. 
Speaker, if there's any parent in this body who has seen that sonogram 
when your baby is just weeks old, to see that beating heart, to see 
those little fingers, to see those little toes, and know that you have 
this great privilege that God Almighty has entrusted you with this gift 
to nurture this life, how you see that and turn your back on it is 
beyond me, is absolutely beyond me.

                              {time}  2100

  And so, Mr. Speaker, there have been others who have come here 
tonight who are far more eloquent than am I.
  But, Mr. Speaker, I just want to, one, thank all of the fellow 
members of the Republican Study Committee that I have the great honor 
of chairing in this institution, really the conservative caucus in this 
House. I want to thank them for raising their voice on the single most 
important issue we face as a society, and that is the definition of the 
right to life. I want to thank them for coming to this body to do this.
  And Mr. Speaker, I believe that I have a lot of blessings in life. I 
am not sure I will ever have a greater privilege than serving in the 
United States House. I enjoy coming to the floor of this institution 
and being able to talk about my beliefs and my vision for this great 
Republic.
  Like some of us, we have the opportunity to occasionally meet with 
the President of the United States and tell the most powerful man in 
the world what our views are. We have opportunities to salute people 
who deserve recognition. We have all kinds of opportunities that give 
us a lot of self-satisfaction.
  But no matter how many speeches I give on the House floor, no matter 
how many opportunities I have to meet with the President in the Oval 
Office, Mr. Speaker, those opportunities pale, absolutely pale in 
comparison to the opportunity that I have each week to fly home to 
Dallas, Texas, and have my 5-year-old daughter and my 4-year-old son 
run into my arms saying, ``Daddy, Daddy, Daddy. We missed you.''
  And it's just one more reminder, Mr. Speaker, of how critical and how 
precious human life is, and it transcends all of the other debates that 
we have in this institution.
  And so, again, I want to thank all of my fellow members of the 
Republican Study Committee. I want to thank the gentlelady from 
Minnesota adding her leadership and her eloquent voice here tonight. I 
wish I knew what I could say to reach out to my follow citizens and try 
to convince them to treasure human life and to understand how precious 
it is.
  And often when we hear in the debate in this institution that we 
ought to do it for the least of these, truly, truly unborn life is the 
least of these. Let us recognize it. Let us hold it precious. And let 
us live up to our constitutional responsibilities, and let us live up 
to our responsibilities from the Creator and grant our follow citizens 
that precious right to life.
  And so the battle goes on, Mr. Speaker. There has been some progress. 
There are fewer abortions in the land today than there was previously.
  So I continue to be optimistic. I could not serve in this body unless 
I was an optimist. There is much work to be done. But I see a day, it 
may not be in my life, Mr. Speaker, but maybe in the life of my 
children, maybe in the life of my grandchildren, should I be blessed 
with any, that one day all Americans will somehow lock arms and lock 
hearts and decide that they will protect and defend that unalienable 
right to life; and I thank the gentlelady for yielding.
  Ms. BACHMANN. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Hensarling from Texas' 
Fifth District. He has confirmed once again to me, Mr. Speaker, that 
not only is he a giant among men here in this body, but he is a gentle 
giant, and those are the greatest of all.
  I think I have seen a tenderness here this evening, a softness and an 
eloquence that he speaks, the foundational nature of the issue that we 
are grappling tonight. There is a sweet sorrow, if you will, regarding 
this subject because we are talking about something that is dealing 
with the foundational nature of this country and yet of all humanity, 
and that is life and what we will do with life.
  And I jotted down just a few words before I came up to manage this 
hour. And I wrote down that every generation, Mr. Speaker, seems to 
grapple with an issue that transcends all others. That issue for 31 
years has been whether government will protect from destruction life, 
innocent human life.
  Our American landscape has changed so dramatically over these last 31 
years. I was in high school when the Roe v. Wade decision came down. I 
hate to admit I was so ignorant when I was a junior in high school, I 
didn't even know what abortion meant. I didn't even know what it was. 
What innocence that time was in the early seventies here in the United 
States.
  In that time, Mr. Speaker, we have lost 50 million fellow Americans, 
and now we've lost the children, some of whom those 50 million would 
have borne. There are 50 million women whose bodies were violated by 
the horrific violence that we call here in this chamber abortion. There 
are 50 million men who have lost out on the tremendous privilege and 
joy of fatherhood, and our Nation today is poorer because we're 
missing, Mr. Speaker, 50 million fellow Americans, so sadly.
  An inordinate number of these 50 million Americans are children of 
color. We needed those children of color in our Nation. We needed those 
African American babies, those Latino babies, those Asian babies. We 
need them, Mr. Speaker, in our Nation.
  And we mourn together the loss of these priceless treasures that 
would have woven a beautiful tapestry of humanity even here in our 
midst. Yes, we mourn with a great sadness, but we also rejoice, and we 
also take great joy in the fact that today, even now, we're making a 
down payment because today is a new day.
  It's a new day for a future of change, and it's my hope and my prayer 
that it is today, Mr. Speaker, that the words that are spoken on this 
floor would captivate the attention of young women and young men across 
our Nation, young people who may have had the chance to turn this show 
this evening on television, who would choose to respect their bodies 
and would choose to respect their sexuality and choose to respect their 
fertility because fertility is a gift. It's not a given. It's a gift.
  Ask those people who can't have children. Ask women with love who 
would love to bear a child but can't, young people who will choose to 
be givers in this Nation, givers to one another in love, givers to 
themselves, givers to our Nation and givers to the next generation of 
Americans.
  Today, earlier, I had the great privilege of being in my home State 
of Minnesota. I went up to the steps of our State capitol. Thousands of 
Minnesotans had gathered. You think it's cold in Washington, DC? There 
is nothing like a March For Life rally in the State of Minnesota. It 
was sub-zero. I wasn't wearing boots. I had a wool overcoat on, and in 
a moment, my feet were tingling, freezing cold. There were thousands 
that were there that had braved sub-zero freezing temperatures, holding 
signs, from cities across the State of Minnesota because they wanted to 
be there to choose life, Mr. Speaker, and march for the greatest gift 
that any of us have ever had, the gift of life.
  I want to take these few minutes right now to thank the Americans and 
the people across the globe who have chosen to adopt children. There is 
no such thing in this country as an unwanted child. There is no such 
thing.

[[Page 452]]

There is a line a mile long of men and women who would give anything 
tonight to adopt a child. Yes, even the less than a perfect child 
there's a mile long group of people who would say me, let me, just like 
Mother Theresa of India who said give them to me and I will take these 
children.
  Thank you to those who have chosen to give life, and whether you kept 
that child or blessed another family with a child, thank you for 
choosing life tonight.
  I want to thank parents who have chosen to be foster parents, who 
have taken children in less than ideal situations, or parents that 
couldn't cope with a child who was difficult. I thank the foster 
parents who have opened your hearts, opened your arms, opened your 
homes, who've inconvenienced yourselves, but yet, you have chosen a 
better way, to give life in a different sort of way to children in 
foster homes.
  I also want to thank the women who have chosen life and the parents 
who have encouraged their young daughters or their sons to be 
supportive of women in a situation where they didn't know if they would 
choose life or if they would choose to take life. I thank the parents.
  It's easy when your child is suffering with an unplanned pregnancy to 
say it's okay, I'll support you, I'll take you to that abortion clinic, 
I will pay for that abortion. But they don't always recognize that 
there is a price that that young woman will pay for the rest of her 
life in her emotion because her arms will be forever empty, and she'll 
know that there is a baby that could have been hers and yet was not, or 
a young man who knows he could have been a father to that baby.
  Parents, think again. Taking the easy way isn't always the easy way, 
Mr. Speaker, and for boyfriends who just heard the news that their 
girlfriend is pregnant, oh, my gosh, of course I will pay for the 
abortion you say, let's do that. You don't need this; I don't need 
this. We've got a whole life in front of us. Who needs this? We can do 
this. I will borrow the money from my parents, the boyfriend might say, 
Mr. Speaker, or yet he might say I'll drop you if you don't have this 
abortion. I'll leave you. I'll walk out on you.
  There's another way. There's another choice. There's a choice called 
life, and it may be inconvenient and it may be embarrassing and it may 
be expensive, and yes, it will change your life and there may be pain, 
but there will be joy when you hear that first cry, when you hold that 
hand that literally covers your finger. And when you look in those eyes 
and you stroke that silky hair, there is nothing like that baby that 
you will see, and it will change your life as a young man. It will 
change your life as a young woman.
  That baby has the power to change America. Every baby has the power 
to change this country. They are America's greatest natural resource.
  I thank my parents, David and Jean, who gave me life. I thank my 
husband who stood by me with our five babies and who stood by me when 
we lost a baby. I thank you for standing by me when we didn't know if 
we could go on anymore, and I thank you for stepping up to the plate, 
for being willing to bring 23 foster children into our home so we could 
offer an alternative for those children and hopefully give them a down 
payment on a future and on a hope.
  These remarks that we gave here tonight are not about condemning 
anyone. Who could? Who could? I couldn't condemn anyone. Who could? But 
it's about lifting up people. We're here to lift up people. These 
remarks tonight weren't given to judge anyone. Who could? We're here to 
heal and offer a healing alternative.
  That's why recently I introduced a bill, and it's a bipartisan bill. 
Democrats are on this bill. Republicans are on this bill. This is not 
partisan. This is about life, and this is about humanity and choosing 
the best that are among us, and in the Positive Alternatives Act, we 
just say something very simply. It says that today there are tax 
dollars that go to Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of abortion 
in the United States. Tax dollars go to Planned Parenthood.
  There are not tax dollars that go to life care centers in this 
country, and we want to change that. We want to level the playing 
field.

                              {time}  2115

  And we want to give a positive alternative all across this great 
country so that there is a chance for men and women to say, let me 
think about this. Maybe I don't want to choose death. Maybe I want to 
choose something else. Maybe there's someone out there who can help me 
through a difficult time, who could help me with my medical needs, who 
could help me to get a job, who could help me get some education, who 
could help me get clothes on my back, who could help me if I want to 
keep this baby, who could help me if I want to give this baby to a 
family who maybe doesn't have a baby. It's just common decency to allow 
for an alternative that leads to life and not lead to guilt and to 
death, and perhaps remorse that even a lifetime could never erase.
  We are such a great country, Mr. Speaker. I know you feel that way, I 
know you do. And we're a blessed country. Let's choose life. Let's 
choose the better way. It's the American way.
  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hour to speak for the 
millions of innocent voices that have been silenced due to the passage 
of Roe v. Wade on this day, 35 years ago.
  Since the passage of Roe v. Wade, the National Right to Life 
estimates that nearly. 50 million lives have been lost. This number is 
staggering.
  What do the deaths of 50 million children, say about the state of our 
Nation? It says that the Declaration of Independence is no longer 
absolute, as its ``unalienable'' right to life only applies when it is 
convenient. It says that Congress can make a Federal crime out of 
roosters crossing State lines, but when a defenseless child is taken 
across state lines to have an abortion, it is merely a ``right''--a 
choice being exercised. It says that seven unelected Supreme Court 
justices ignored the separation of powers, and appointed themselves as 
a superior legislature in order to decide the abortion issue.
  But what is the good news? The good news is that citizens who believe 
that the Constitution protects life in all its seasons have worked to 
educate the public about abortion and the biological development of the 
unborn child, as well as to provide support and options for women when 
they need it the most. As a result, abortion numbers continue to drop 
from a high of over 1.6 million in 1990 to 1.2 million in 2005--proving 
that when given the right options and the whole truth about abortion, 
many women will choose life.
  However, even as the pro-life movement continues to have an impact 
all over the United States, science has opened other doors that 
threaten the sanctity of life in the United States. Mass production of 
cloned embryos to be destroyed in research promotes the same principle 
as abortion--that human life only matters when it is chosen to matter. 
We must continue to be vigilant in protecting human life at its 
creation--whether in the womb or in the lab.

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