George W. Bush: The Most Pro-Life President in American History

Editor's note. The following are the remarks of Tim Goeglein at the 12th Annual Proudly Pro-Life Awards Dinner. Mr. Goeglein is a special assistant to President Bush and deputy director of the Office of Public Liaison.

If there is a force of nature for good, in all of Washington D.C., it is Darla St. Martin [associate director of NRLC]. I remember many years ago meeting Darla and the National Right to Life team, and all these years later it is extraordinary to see the progress that has been made. And so Darla, I know one of these special awards is not for you this evening, but I think if all of us could vote tonight, it would be unanimous. So, congratulations to you.

On behalf of the President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, and all of us in the Bush-Cheney Administration, we send to all of you, each and every one of you, our warmest and most personal greetings. I talked with the President this morning. I told him I would be here this evening, and he said, 'Please tell all of those good people, not only best wishes from Laura and me, but thanks for everything they have done over the course of the last five years in the great fight for the innocent pre-born who cannot speak for themselves." And I said, "Mr. President, it would be a great honor, if nothing else to convey just that message." So, on behalf of the President, thank you for everything that you have done.

It's very important in the town that makes a habit of overstating things, to understate, when important, and to overstate, when unimportant. And I think it's important tonight to make a statement that is not said enough. George W. Bush is the most pro-life president in American history.

The last four years have seen the greatest advances in defense of human life since Roe v. Wade. In this short period of time, the President has signed a ban on partial-birth abortion. He has signed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. He has signed the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act. He has put a complete lid on all funding for UNFPA. He has proudly stepped into the Rose Garden and told the country and the world that he was categorically in opposition to all forms of human cloning. ...

And let me just say, and I think that you will all agree this is important, the President has now appointed over one-third of the federal judiciary, with more to come. And it is possible tomorrow that all of us will see Janice Rogers Brown and Priscilla Owen move from the Senate Judiciary Committee to the floor of the United States Senate.

It is important that I not stand here and give you a laundry list and I promise not to do it. But I think it's important to remember that in the President's original, first, Philadelphia speech, he said that when he was governor he had gone into a juvenile jail and had what he called one of the most important conversations of his life, and you remember when he retold it in Philadelphia in accepting the nomination in 2000.

He said a young prisoner, age 16, who already had a laundry list of serious problems with the law, asked the President, then-governor, a haunting question. He said, "Governor, what do you think of me?" This President, since the very moment he first put his hand on the Bible and raised his hand and made a commitment, has made a commitment to speak for all of those who cannot speak for themselves, which include, as I say, the innocent pre-born, the aged elderly, the severely handicapped and disabled, and has extended the culture of life, versus the culture of death, into every quadrant of domestic and foreign policy.

We are on the very cusp of a new Administration. We will continue, with relish, to call on National Right to Life for your counsel, your input, and your advice. And to everyone here, from all 50 states and beyond, thank you for everything you've done in defense of life.

God bless all of you, and God bless the greatest country there ever was, the United States of America. Thank you.