[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 171]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS

  (Mr. LOUDERMILK asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LOUDERMILK. Mr. Speaker, for those who haven't been in the House 
Chamber, surrounding the inside of this beautiful building are effigies 
of great philosophers and lawgivers that have influenced the founding 
of our Nation. One of those, to my right, is that of Sir William 
Blackstone.
  Now, Blackstone had great influence upon our Founders, especially 
that of Thomas Jefferson. In fact, it was Blackstone who influenced the 
three enumerated rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
  Mr. Speaker, let me read from Blackstone's Commentary, the very 
document which influenced Thomas Jefferson to make life the very first 
right that is given by government.
  Blackstone said: ``Life is the immediate gift of God, a right 
inherent by nature in every individual; and it begins in contemplation 
of law as soon as an infant is able to stir in the mother's womb.''
  That is one of the foundations of this Nation, that life begins at 
conception. And our Founding Fathers understood that it was a great 
philosophy and that is when the protection of law begins.
  On January 22, 1973, we departed from that philosophy with the 
decision of Roe v. Wade. Since then, over 57 million American lives 
have been taken because of that decision. Mr. Speaker, that number is 
equivalent to the population of Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, 
Kentucky, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Tennessee. That one decision, 
Mr. Speaker, has not only figuratively, but literally changed the 
landscape of America.

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