Sunset Memorial

Floor Speech

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, I know that another legislative day has come to an end and that sunset fast approaches in Washington, D.C.

I stand before this House with what I call a Sunset Memorial. Because, you see, Mr. Speaker, before the sun sets today in America, almost 4,000 more defenseless unborn children will be killed by abortion on demand in the land of the free and the home of the brave. That is more than the number of innocent lives lost on September 11th in this country, and it happens every single day.

Mr. Speaker, it has now been 40 years--an entire generation--since the tragedy called Roe v. Wade was first handed down. Since then, the very foundation of this Nation has been stained by the blood of almost 55 million of its own unborn children. Some of them, Mr. Speaker, cried and screamed as they died, but because it was amniotic fluid going over the vocal cords instead of air, we couldn't hear them.

All of them had at least four things in common, Mr. Speaker. First, they were just nameless little babies who had done wrong to no one, and yet each one of them died a nameless and lonely death. And each one of their mothers, whether she realizes it or not, will never be quite the same. And all the gifts that these children might have brought to humanity in this world are now lost forever.

Yet, even in the glare of such tragedy, this generation still clings to a blind, invincible ignorance while history repeats itself over and over again and our own silent genocide mercilessly annihilates the most helpless of all victims, those yet unborn.

Mr. Speaker, I recently heard Barack Obama speak such poignant words that, whether he knows it or not, apply so profoundly to the tragedy of abortion on demand in America. Let me quote selected, excerpted portions of his comments.

He said:

This is our first task--caring for our children. It's our first job. If we don't get that right, we don't get anything right. That's how, as a society, we will be judged. And by that measure, can we truly say, as a Nation, that we are meeting our obligations? Can we honestly say that we're doing enough to keep our children--all of them--safe from harm?

He went on to quote:

Can we say that we're truly doing enough to give all the children of this country the chance they deserve to live out their lives in happiness and with purpose?

He said:

I've been reflecting on this the last few days, and if we're honest with ourselves, the answer is no. We're not doing enough. And we will have to change.

Oh, Mr. Speaker, how true the President's words were. The President also said:

We can't tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change.

Then the President asked:

Are we really prepared to say that we're powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard? Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?

What a powerful question, Mr. Speaker. It is the most relevant question we should all be asking in the midst of this genocidal murder of thousands of unborn children in America every day.

The President said:

Our journey is not complete until all our children are cared for and cherished and always safe from harm.

He said:

That is our generation's task--to make these words, these rights, these values of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness real for every American.

Mr. Speaker, never have I so deeply agreed with any words ever spoken by President Obama as those I have just quoted. And yet this President, in the most merciless distortion of logic and reason and humanity itself, refuses to apply these majestic words to the helpless unborn babies of this Nation. How I wish that somehow Mr. Obama would just open his heart and his ears to his own words, and ask himself in the core of his soul, why his words, that should apply to all children, cannot include the most helpless of all children.

Only a few days ago, no more than 200 yards from this well, Barack Obama put his hand down on the same Bible that Abraham Lincoln was sworn in on when he took his Presidential oath.

Mr. Speaker, we should remember that we honor Abraham Lincoln most because he found the courage as President of the United States in the days of slavery, and the humanity within himself, to recognize the image of God stamped on the soul of slaves that the Supreme Court said were not human and that the tide of public opinion didn't recognize as protectable under the law. Could it still be, could it still be, Mr. Speaker, that President Barack Obama might consider that perspective, as well as his own legacy, and even eternity itself, Mr. Speaker, and recognize that in his day under his Presidency that these little unborn children look so desperately to him now for help?

Could it be that the President might finally remember that on the pages of the Bible on which he laid his hand were the words written in red:

Inasmuch as you have done unto the least of these My brethren, you have done it unto Me.

Mr. Speaker, whether he does or not, it is certainly time for those of us in this Chamber to remind ourselves of why we are really all here. Thomas Jefferson said:

The care of human life and happiness, and not its destruction, is the chief and only object of good government.

The phrase in the 14th Amendment encapsulates our entire Constitution. It says:

No State shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law.

Mr. Speaker, protecting the lives of all Americans and their constitutional rights is why we are all here. The bedrock foundation of this Republic is that clarion declaration of that self-evident truth that all human beings are created equal and endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights, the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Every conflict and battle our Nation has ever faced can be traced to our commitment to this core self-evident truth. It has made us the beacon of hope for the entire world, Mr. Speaker. It is who we are. And yet today another day has passed, and we in this body have failed again to honor that foundational commitment. We have failed our sworn oath and our God-given responsibility as we broke faith with nearly 4,000 more innocent little American babies who died today without the protection we should have given them.

So, Mr. Speaker, let me conclude this sunset memorial in the hopes that perhaps someone new who heard it tonight will finally embrace the very inconvenient truth that abortion really does kill little babies and that it hurts mothers in ways that we can never imagine, and that it is time we stood up together again and looked to our Declaration of Independence and remember that we are the same America that rejected human slavery and marched into Europe to arrest the Nazi Holocaust, and we are still the courageous and compassionate Nation that can find a better way for mothers and their unborn babies than abortion on demand.

It is still not too late for us 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 nearly 4,000 of our own children every day.

So, now, Mr. Speaker, as we consider the plight of the unborn after 40 years under Roe v. Wade, maybe we can 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 these Chambers for the very last time. And if it should be that this Congress is allowed to convene on yet another day, may that be the day when we finally 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 in America, from this murderous scourge upon our Nation called abortion on demand.

Mr. Speaker, it is now 40 years since Roe v. Wade first stained the foundation of this Nation with the blood of its own children. This, in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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