[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 2] [House] [Pages 1773-1774] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]{time} 2015 SUNSET MEMORIAL The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Franks) is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, it is February 7, 2008, in the land of the free and the home of the brave; and before the sun set today in America, almost 4,000 more defenseless, unborn children were killed by abortion on demand, and that's just today. That is more than the number of innocent American lives that we lost on September 11, only it happens every day. It has now been exactly 12,799 days since the tragic judicial fiat called Roe v. Wade was handed down. Since then the very foundation of this Nation has been stained by the blood of almost 50 million of our own children. And all of them, Mr. Speaker, had at least four things in common. First, they were each just little babies who had done nothing wrong to anyone. Each one of them died a nameless and lonely death. And each of their mothers, whether she realizes it or not, will never be quite the same. And all the gifts these children might have brought to this humanity are now lost forever. Yet, even in the full glare of such tragedy, Mr. Speaker, this generation clings to blindness and invincible ignorance while history repeats itself, and our own silent genocide mercilessly annihilates the most helpless of all victims to date, those yet unborn. Mr. Speaker, perhaps it's important for us in this Chamber to remind ourselves again of why we are really all here. Thomas Jefferson said: ``The care of human life and its happiness and not its destruction is the only object of good government.'' Mr. Speaker, protecting the lives of our innocent citizens and their constitutional rights is why we are all still here. It is our sworn oath. The phrase in the 14th amendment capsulizes our entire Constitution. It says: ``No state shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law.'' The bedrock foundation of this Republic is the declaration, not the casual notion, but the declaration of the self-evident truth that all human beings are created equal and endowed by their Creator with the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Every conflict or 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. It is who we are. And yet, Mr. Speaker, another day has passed, and we, in this body, have failed again to honor that commitment. We've failed our sworn oath and our God-given responsibility as we broke faith with nearly 4,000 more innocent American babies who died without the protection that we should have given them. But perhaps tonight, Mr. Speaker, maybe someone new who's heard this sunset memorial will finally realize that abortion really does kill a baby, that it hurts mothers in ways that we can never express, and that 12,799 days spent killing nearly 50 million unborn children in America is enough, and that this Nation is great enough to find a better way than abortion on demand. So, tonight, Mr. Speaker, may we each remind ourselves that our own days in this sunshine of life are numbered, and that all too soon, each of us will 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 to come, may that be the day when we finally hear the cries of the unborn children in this country. May that be the day when we find the [[Page 1774]] humanity, the courage, and the will to embrace together our human and our constitutional duty to protect the least of these, our tiny American brothers and sisters, from this murderous scourge upon our Nation called abortion on demand. Mr. Speaker, it is February 7, 2008, 12,799 days since Roe v. Wade first stained the very foundation of this Nation with the blood of its own children, this in the land of the free and the home of the brave. ____________________