Life is precious. It’s fragile, vulnerable, and must be protected. When our founding fathers established a new, free land, they wrote that our God-given rights would be protected in the United States of America. And the most crucial of these rights is the right to life.
Hundreds of thousands of people in the United States ventured to Washington, D.C. this week and marched to defend the most essential of our human rights. I was impressed and inspired by the thousands of young people of the pro-life generation who took to the streets and visited lawmakers to defend vulnerable, innocent lives. It was great to see so many people celebrating each individual life as a gift from God and unique in this world. Since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, nearly 61 million unique lives have been extinguished and never given the chance to experience this great land or fulfill their Creator’s plans for them. 61 million. That’s more people than the entire population of Missouri and its eight neighboring states combined.
We fight for life because every life is a gift. At the Options for Women Banquet for Life in Ste. Genevieve last spring, I had the opportunity to sit with Abby Johnson. You may recognize her name from the upcoming movie about her life, called “Unplanned.” Abby dedicated her life to helping vulnerable women, and this led to her working at an abortion clinic and eventually rising through the ranks to become a clinic director. That all changed when she assisted with an ultrasound-guided abortion and witnessed in horror as a 13 week baby fought for and ultimately lost its life. She has now dedicated her life to educating the public on pro-life issues and protecting the unborn. Her story is powerful, and shows how important it is that we defend those who can’t defend themselves.
While this week reminded the world that Americans support defending innocent life, it was also a reminder that the new Democrat leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives doesn’t support that vision. This is the first year that I’ve been in the U.S. House that we didn’t pass a single piece of pro-life legislation around the March for Life. In years past we’ve passed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and other bills that would save lives and protect unborn children who are capable of feeling pain. Unfortunately, one of Speaker Pelosi’s first acts as Speaker this month was to pass a bill that would send millions of American taxpayer dollars overseas to fund abortions in other countries.
Regardless of the new leadership in the U.S. House, I’m going to stand strong and continue to defend innocent life and protect hardworking Missourians’ tax dollars from going to policies they don’t agree with and undermine the right to life. I will continue to recognize life’s beginning at conception and fight for the most vulnerable, innocent life in our country. This includes pushing my bill, the No Abortion Bonds Act, which will close a loophole in the tax code which allows abortion clinics to be built and subsidized with taxpayer dollars. And I will continue to advocate for adoption services and pregnancy resource clinics that support mothers who have an unplanned pregnancy.
Life is vulnerable, and so is the right to it. Thank you to everyone who made the journey to our nation’s Capital this week to defend our God-given right to life and protect the most vulnerable in our country.
