Video Address by Senator John McCain to the 36th Annual National Right to Life Convention.(Speech)

July 3, 2008

Thank you for inviting me to address the 2008 National Right to Life Convention, I'm sorry I'm not able to be there in person to address you. More than 200 years ago our nation's founders declared that we are endowed by our creator with certain and unalienable rights, and that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It was no accident that they cited life as the first and most basic right. For without recognition of the right to life, we are not guaranteed any other rights. Sometimes all wisdom asks of us, is that we recognize common sense. But sometimes wisdom, as to all other virtues, requires courage.

Wisdom suggests that we should be willing to give an unborn child the same chance that our parents gave us. But it takes courage in this political climate to insist on the protection of unborn children, who can't vote, have no voice, and can't reward you with support and donations. Wisdom suggests that when federal judges impose their social views on the citizens of every state, the result is going to distort our politics in harmful ways. But it takes courage to insist that the courts have to return to their proper role.

I will look for accomplished men and women, with a proven record of excellence in the law, and a proven commitment to strictly interpreting the Constitution of the United States. I will look for people in the cast of John Roberts, Sam Alito, my friend the late William Rehnquist, jurists of the highest caliber who know their own minds, and know the law, and know the difference. I have been pro-life my entire public career.

I am pro-life, because I know what it is like to live without human rights, where human life is accorded no inherent value. And I know that I have a personal obligation to advocate human rights wherever they are denied, in Bosnia or Burma, in Cuba or the Middle East, and in our own country, when we fail to respect the inherent dignity of all human life, born or unborn. That is a personal testament, which you need not take on faith. You need only to examine my public record to know that I won't change my position. I've been proud to serve our great country in the military and in Congress.

Throughout these years I have always believed that the most important duty of our national leaders is to protect human life. We protect human life from violent extremists, who would destroy it to produce a cruel ideology. We protect the lives of the most vulnerable, whether they are the unborn, the elderly, or the disabled. It is a privilege to defend Americans in war and in peace.

I'm proud to stand with you in defending the sanctity of human life, and in supporting mothers and children, under the most challenging of circumstances.