Keynote Address at Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life Rally - Jan. 23, 2012

Good afternoon, everyone. Good to see you. God bless you. God bless you. Life is a beautiful choice, and you are a beautiful sight. We’re here today because we want to honor the memory of those who have gone before in this long-term battle for life. We will never forget those little ones who were taken from us over the years … 50 million strong. They are gathered as a cloud of witnesses, surrounding us, watching us, being here with us in spirit and in hope … because we are not here today in a spirit of despondency. We are here with a spirit of hope – knowing that on this 39th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade – we are looking forward next year on the 40th anniversary to delivering a victory never before seen of repealing Roe vs. Wade. Some say curse the darkness. We say light a candle, and that is why I introduced the bill to repeal Obamacare because, for the first time in the history of the United States, today we have taxpayer-funded abortion. Not on our watch. Not if we have anything to say about it. For the first time in the history of the country, the most pro-abortion president in the history of the United States has mandated that the morning-after-abortion pill will be given out free-of-charge through private health insurance companies. Not on our watch. Not if we have anything to say about it. And in an in-your-face move, in just the week before a pro-life Sunday, President Obama stated that religious organizations would lose their First Amendment Rights to free speech. They would be mandated to offer contraceptives even if they disagreed with their sincerely-held religious beliefs. Not on our watch. Not if we can help it. That’s why this year, I introduced the Heartbeat Informed Choices Act … That would mean for every woman who is seeking to have an abortion, they would be offered the life-giving choice of seeing their baby’s heartbeat and hearing their baby’s heartbeat … because again, we do not curse the darkness. We light a candle. In the midst of even women who are sometimes in many cases pressured against their will to enter the doors of an abortion complex, we want them to see that even within their womb is contained a real person with a heart and with a soul. And we want women to have that choice … all the information they would need to make the right choice, to choose life. We in Minnesota – on this very cold, snowy January Sunday— say to all of those in the United States, here on our watch we will stand, we will stand for life. We will never forget. We will never give up, and next year we will gather in a day of celebration when we have finally ended abortion in this all-important election. Join me this year. Choose life. God bless you. God bless you all. God bless the United States.

Speech from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rnlzq1CMF5M.