Government Leaders on Abortion

Rep. Broun discusses his bill, the Sanctity of Human Life Act and the moral responsibility to protect human life

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Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I believe the greatest moral issue we face as a Nation is the killing of 4,000 unborn children every single day through abortion. Mr. Speaker, God cannot continue to bless America while we are killing these children. They're children. They're babies. They're human beings.

When I came to Congress in 2007, the very first bill I introduced was my Sanctity of Human Life Act. I am a medical doctor. I know without any question that life begins when the spermatozoa, the sperm cell, enters the cell wall of the oocyte, the egg, and produces a one-celled human being called a zygote. That zygote is totally different from its mom. It has every function, every bit of genetic makeup to be a grown human being if we just nurture it and allow it to grow and allow it to live.

I have been involved with a crisis pregnancy center in Athens, Georgia. Not long ago, we had a young lady who was considering abortion. She came there, and she had an ultrasound. She was about 10 or 12 weeks along. I don't recall exactly, but it was early on in her pregnancy. She had just found out a few weeks before that she had missed her period, so she came for a pregnancy test.

When she saw that ultrasound, her exclamation was, ``That's a baby.''

That's what we see over and over again with these expectant moms when they see those ultrasounds. That's the reason she understood it was a baby. It is a baby. It is a human being. There is no greater freedom, no greater liberty, than to live. There is no greater protection that we as a government can give to protect human beings all the way from the time of fertilization until they have natural deaths.

You see, Mr. Speaker, God creates those children. We do not have the moral authority to take their lives. We've got to protect their lives. In a free society, where liberty is held in the highest esteem by every individual in this country--whether Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative--the right to life is a fundamental form of liberty. We have to protect life. That is the reason the first bill I introduce in every single Congress will continue to be my Sanctity of Human Life Act.

My friend and fellow Member from California, Duncan Hunter, Junior, has reintroduced his dad's bill, Duncan Hunter, Senior. Their bill is called Life at Conception Act. I am a cosponsor of their bill, as Duncan Hunter, I, and now Duncan Hunter, II, are of my bill. We have to stop this travesty, this awful, horrendous attack, moral attack, upon our basic rights as human beings--and that is the right to life.

Mr. Speaker, if we cannot protect life, then we cannot protect any liberty. We cannot protect any freedom that our Founding Fathers created the Constitution to protect--those God-given rights.

We have had many of our colleagues tonight speak from the preamble that Thomas Jefferson penned in 1776, the preamble of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson is considered one of the least religious of our Founding Fathers, but he believed in life. That's the reason he penned it there. He believed in God. We're not taught that in school anymore, but that's factual.

You see, even if you don't believe in God, from a scientific perspective, there is only one place in a person's life where you can draw the line between no life being there and life and human being and personhood being established, and that's at the time of fertilization.

Roe vs. Wade, in the decision, was predicated on there being no legislative definition of the beginning of life. That's the reason it is absolutely critical that we define life as beginning at fertilization--to protect those one-celled human beings.

It is absolutely critical that every person in this country who loves liberty and who wants to protect life contacts their Congressmen, contacts their Senators and says, We have to protect life. We have to protect all our God-given freedoms, particularly life. ``Contact your Senators,'' is what I tell my constituents.

What I tell people all over this country is ``Contact your Senator. Contact your Congressman.'' Tell him to support the Sanctity of Human Life Act, my bill, or Duncan Hunter's bill, the Life at Conception Act. Join in this fight because there is no greater moral issue that this country faces. If we want God's blessings upon America, we have to protect these most vulnerable of human beings--the unborn children.

In Proverbs, God says, Speak up for the speechless in the cause of those appointed to die. That's what we are here tonight to do is to speak up for those speechless, those appointed to die by abortion.

We have got to end abortion. We don't need a constitutional amendment. We need a legislative definition: the beginning of life to occur at fertilization. Once we have that placed into law, we will stop this blight upon our society, this dark era in the history of this Nation that began in 1973 with this awful decision of the Supreme Court called Roe vs. Wade. We have to protect life. We have to protect liberty. We have to protect every single human being's God-given rights.

Protecting life is important--from fertilization all the way to natural death--and I promise that I will continue with every bit of my being, and many other of our colleagues, Republicans and Democrats alike, will continue to fight for life.

So, Mr. Speaker, if we want God's blessings upon America to continue, we have to end this blight upon America.

We have to define life beginning at fertilization and protect life for these unborn children.

Thank you, Mr. Smith. And I want to personally thank you for your tireless fight in this issue because you've been a stalwart here in this House for many, many years, and I greatly personally appreciate the great work you've done for years and years in protecting life. So thank you and God bless you. And we have to get the killing of these unborn children stopped so God can continue to bless America.

Thank you, Mr. Smith.

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