Changing America One Heart at a Time.(Chris Smith speech)(Speech)

Excerpts of Speech given by Rep. Chris Smith to young people at NRLC 2008

On the White House lawn this past April President Bush welcomed the Pope Benedict XVI by saying in part:

"In a world where some treat life as something to be debased and discarded, we need your message that all human life is sacred ... and your message that 'each of us is willed, each of us is loved, and each of us is necessary.' In a world where some no longer believe that we can distinguish between simple right and wrong, we need your message to reject this 'dictatorship of relativism' and embrace a culture of justice and truth."

Sadly this message appears to the world to be a mere minority opinion easily dismissed and trivialized. Many today have the audacity to assert that certain types of profoundly immoral behaviors are, somehow, hallowed and protected. ...

Thirty-five years after the infamous Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wadea judicial fiat that legalized abortion on demand in our countrythe taking of innocent human life remains a serious, lethal violation of fundamental human rights. To date, approximately 50 million unborn children have been killed in the United Statesa staggering loss of unborn life.

Despite setbacks and the high hurdle of reversing a Supreme Court decision, we will never quit until this gross injustice is reversed.

The right to life is, or should be, for everyone, regardless of age, race, condition of dependency, disability, or stage of development. Both the United States Congress and every lawmaking institution throughout the world has a duty to protect everyone at risknot just the planned, the privileged, and the perfect. ...