Thank you so much. What a great room, thank you so much. Thank you Marjorie, for your commitment, strength, and heart. You are an inspiration to so many and we all appreciate your efforts. And thank you to everyone in this room. I am so grateful to you not just for being here tonight, but for showing up and fighting every single day. Each of you is doing something extraordinary. You're saving lives so thank you.
The pro-life movement is a noble cause. It's also a thankless cause.That's because the people you are fighting for aren't in a position to thank you. They are the voiceless ones. We are their voice. There's little recognition in this struggle and little Glory. In fact the opposite is typically true. Many, if not all of you, have endured more than your fair share of name-calling and abuse, especially in this town.
There is an old talmudic saying which has been repurposed countless times, it goes something like this, whoever destroys a single life has destroyed the whole world and whoever saves a single life has saved the whole world. Think about the magnitude of that for a moment. Every new life has Limitless potential. Each baby saved could grow up to be a doctor, a teacher ,a first responder, even a public official. When you save one life, you set an entire universe in motion. That's what brings all of us together. That's what Susan B Anthony list is all about, so I say without an ounce of exaggeration you are doing God's work making our world a better place.
I stand here tonight as a wearer of many hats, ambassador, governor, daughter military wife, mother, and the biggest Clemson Tiger fan ever. You think I'm joking I'm not ask coach Davo. All of these titles are part of my identity, all of these experiences have shaped my values and my connection to the world. They are indispensable to my story and they're the reason I stand before you tonight.
Many of you know I am married to my incredible, super cool husband Michael, he is a combat veteran and a major in the South Carolina National Guard. Thank you. He is truly a saint and being married to me, you know, he has to be exceedingly understanding. But many don't know that Michael and his four siblings spent several years in foster care. Foster care can be amazing, but it was not kind to Michael and his siblings it was unkind. Luckily when Michael was five he and his younger sister were adopted by a kind, loving couple who couldn't have children of their own. I often think about what would have happened if Michael hadn't been so lucky, if his biological mother had chosen a different path, if his adoptive parents hadn't been so compassionate.
In politics people assume that if you're Republican, you're pro-life because that's what the party tells you to be. I'm pro-life because I get the chance to spend every day with my husband knowing that I am blessed.
Many of you also might not know that Michael and I struggled to have a family of our own. We are blessed to be the parents of two smart, thoughtful, occasionally challenging children. But that path was not an easy one for us. Like so many other couples and families, we struggled for many years riding a roller coaster of false hopes and painful disappointment throughout the slog of doctor visits and invasive tests. I had days that tested my faith and my resolve, but when I held our daughter in my arms for the first time, I felt what countless parents feel, that nothing could be more perfect and right in the world.
These experiences, the good and the bad, solidified for me what I had known long, long ago, intellectually, that each and every life is a gift from God. That so many loving families want more than anything to raise and love a child. I can't stomach the idea that we wouldn't do everything in our power to protect and nurture those lives.
As governor of South Carolina, I was proud to sign legislation that banned late-term abortions protecting baby- protecting babies from the point in their development where they are capable of feeling pain. Many people praised this action, but many others criticized it. The most strident attacks came from my fellow women. You've heard it all before, pro-life women are traitors to their gender, if we truly care about women's rights we would support abortion rights. Women are expected to support choice simply because we're women. That's just wrong. We all have to be true to ourselves and to others.
Unfortunately many on the left use the abortion debate to divide women and demand conformity. They do this in the name of feminism, but that is not real feminism. The idea that women must adhere to a particular set of values is one of the most anti-women ideas in today's culture.
It is a rejection of the ideas of equality and tolerance that the women's movement is supposed to be all about. As a pro-life female governor I was blessed with a unique platform and I made every effort to use it appropriately. Not to lob attacks at people who disagreed with me, not to diminish the other side, but to reframe the debate to explain that being pro-life is not about being for or against women. It's about being for a baby's right to live the most basic right there is.
As U.S ambassador to the United Nations, I was privileged to travel to many corners of the globe. I saw many wonderful things, but I also saw some horrible things that I cannot unsee. I heard stories that linger in my memory. In Syrian refugee camps I saw what happened when the war criminal Bashar Assad used chemical weapons to murder and maim innocent children. In South Sudan I sat with crying mothers who told me the horror stories about how soldiers took their babies from their arms and threw them into fires. In the Congo I talked to boys who had been captured at young vulnerable ages and put into the horrible life of child soldiers. In Venezuela on the Simon Boulevard bridge I watched parents and children walk for hours each way in the blazing sun to get the only meal they would get that day, given to them by the Catholic church just on the other side of the border. In Colombia there are starving children digging through trash cans looking for food. I have seen places where life has been incredibly cheapened. It will always haunt me.
All across the globe I have spoken with mothers and fathers who would risk everything just to have a chance at life for themselves and for their children. These people are suffering because of war dictatorship disease and abject poverty. They are a devastating reminder of the evil that exists in the world. It is the reason we should all step back and remember to be grateful because on our worst day we are blessed to live in America.
It's a place where life is valued and protected, and yet today in this country, our leaders debate whether a baby born after a failed abortion has a right to live. Let that sink in for just a minute. It is something you might hear about in other parts of the world or something out of a horror movie, not here, not in America. In so many other aspects of human life, that's a priority for our country.
Think of the lengths we go to defend the rights of the accused in our criminal justice system so people don't unjustly have their freedom taken away. Think of the lengths our military goes to to prevent civilian casualties and more often risking our own soldiers lives to do it. Think of the resources our medical system expends to prolong the life of the terminally ill. Respect for human life is who we are as Americans. It is right there in the Declaration of Independence. You can't have liberty and the pursuit of happiness without the right to life.
That's why Susan B Anthony's list work is so important. You understand we need laws and lawmakers who will protect the right to life, to ensure those in Washington share our values. You have activated a nationwide network of more than 700,000 Americans ready to educate our fellow citizens on pro-life issues. You work tirelessly tirelessly to support pro-life candidates, especially women and advocate for policies that save lives.
I'm an optimist. Our National History makes it easy to be an optimist. We often toss around words like liberty and freedom without appreciating how groundbreaking they were 250 years ago. When the colonies declared their independence, it was a bold experiment. The likes of which the world had never seen, the odds were not in their favor. War, famine, disease, discord, any number of disasters could have destroyed the revolution in its infancy, and yet here we are today, the most powerful and generous country in human history. America cannot accept it cannot escape her exceptionalism. The values that give birth to our nation and live in all of us, they live in the spirit of this country and they cannot be snuffed out.
In her last speech before her death in 1906, Susan B Anthony declared, "failure is not an option". She was right then and she's right today. We Americans have a wonderful way of living up to our destiny. The citizens of this country are good-hearted, generous, and brave. For all of our problems and all of our sins we are blessed to live in the greatest country in the world. Even when we falter, ee rise up, even when we veer we find our way. Take heart and remember no matter the struggle, no matter the lows, life will prevail.
Some people are afraid to talk about the pro-life cause because it's too personal, too uncomfortable. Well of course it's personal, what can be more personal than the right to live? If we want to make a difference in the world we have to embrace the personal, and the uncomfortable. Even though I'm a private citizen now, I know I'm too young to stop fighting. I'm loud and proud and will always fight for the things I believe in. Like Margaret Thatcher said, "if you want something said ask a man, if you want something done ask a woman."
Tonight I'd like to encourage all of you to continue the good fight, continue making history, and continue saving precious lives. The most important thing I did as governor and at the United Nations was used the power of my voice to make a difference. When we refused to sit on the sidelines, when we refused to be followers against our consciences we can quite literally change the world.
I will always encourage people to use the power of their voices on behalf of freedom, justice, and life because you can't truly stand for America if you don't stand for all Americans, including the babies who don't yet have a voice.
Thank you and may God bless
Neither the Catt Center nor Iowa State University is affiliated with any individual in the Archives or any political party. Inclusion in the Archives is not an endorsement by the center or the university.