[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 401]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                PRO-LIFE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Ratcliffe) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RATCLIFFE. Mr. Speaker, the Declaration of Independence contains 
a passage that every student in America learns at an early age. It 
explains that each of us are endowed by our Creator with certain 
inalienable rights, chief among them the right to life. This highlights 
and reminds us just how much our Founders valued the right to life.
  As an elected Representative, the words in our Declaration that 
follow are equally compelling: To secure these rights, governments are 
instituted among men. How often we forget that government exists first 
and foremost to secure the right to life.
  Now, this is an immense responsibility, one that I take very 
seriously, because one of the highest honors I have in representing the 
Fourth Congressional District of Texas is defending the most vulnerable 
among us, our unborn children. I am proud to have a voting record that 
reflects my unwavering commitment to protecting unborn life and ending 
taxpayer funding of abortion.
  I will also be the first to tell you that legislators represent only 
one piece of the puzzle in the ongoing and vital effort to promote a 
culture of life. There are literally thousands of unsung pro-life 
heroes in the Fourth Congressional District of Texas, whose effort to 
promote a culture of life are not about gaining recognition or 
notoriety, but are simply rooted in an abiding sense of protecting the 
inalienable right to life, which our Founding Fathers spoke of.
  I would like to take this opportunity to recognize a few of these 
pro-life heroes in my district, people like Melanie Grammar and Deborah 
Butts with the Texas Federation of Republican Women; Michelle Smith and 
Ann Hettinger in Rockwall, Texas; Chip Adami at the True Options 
Pregnancy Center in Sherman; Mason Randall and Robin Stevenson at Lake 
Pointe Church Adoption Ministry; Kristie Wright at the First Choice 
Pregnancy Resource Center in Texarkana; Threesa Sadler and Tim 
Stainback at the Raffa Center in Greenville; Joanne Vuckovic at the 
Rockwall Pregnancy Resource Center; and the great folks at both the 
Paris and Fannin Pregnancy Care Centers.
  The dedication of individuals like these and thousands of others 
across the Fourth Congressional District of Texas is appreciated, it is 
necessary, and it certainly does not go unnoticed. Thank you all for 
your commitment to protecting the incredibly important cause of life.

                          ____________________