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NRL News
“Truly one
of the great statesmen of our time” WASHINGTON—National Right to Life joins with millions of pro-life Americans in mourning the death of our friend, former Illinois Congressman Henry J. Hyde. “Henry Hyde was a champion in the fight to protect unborn children,” said Dr. Wanda Franz, president of National Right to Life. “Congressman Hyde was a passionate and dedicated ally of the pro-life movement. In both word and deed, Henry Hyde worked for the day that unborn children are again protected by law.” Henry Hyde will be remembered by history as the father of the modern pro-life movement for his introduction and sponsorship of the amendment that bears his name, prohibiting federal funding of abortion. Hyde first offered the amendment as a freshman member of Congress in 1976, and it remains in place to this day. By conservative estimate, well over one million Americans are alive today because of the Hyde Amendment—more likely, two million. The editors of National Review said the Hyde Amendment “is without question the most important piece of pro-life legislation ever to pass Congress.” The Hyde Amendment also charted a new course for the pro-life movement after 1976 by implementing a strategy to pass protective pro-life measures that would incrementally reduce the number of abortions, while continually seeking the eventual overturn of Roe v. Wade. That strategy has been successful in saving millions of lives from abortion. In his 1985 book, For Every Idle Silence, Congressman Hyde wrote, “It is becoming culturally fashionable to protect the defenseless unborn.” Those words hold true today as polling continually shows the majority of Americans oppose the vast majority of abortions. Throughout his more than three decades in Congress, Henry Hyde was a leader of the pro-life movement. As chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (1995–2000), Congressman Hyde ushered numerous pro-life measures to the House floor, including the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. He later served as chairman of the House International Relations Committee and under his leadership, the House rejected attempts to remove legal barriers to funding of organizations that perform or promote legalized abortion abroad. Mr. Hyde was once described by Congressional Quarterly as “one of the premier orators in the House. ... He speaks with wit, passion, and deep convictions about the conservative causes he holds dear. During the House floor debate of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in 2000, Hyde lived up to that reputation during one of his most eloquent statements in defense of life: This is not a debate about religious doctrine or even about public policy options. It is a debate about our understanding of human dignity, what it means to be a member of the human family, even though tiny, powerless and unwanted. ... We are knee deep in a culture of death. ... Look, in this advanced democracy, in the year 2000, is it our crowning achievement that we have learned to treat people as things? Our moment in history is marked by a mortal conflict between a culture of life and a culture of death. God put us in the world to do noble things, to love and to cherish our fellow human beings, not to destroy them. Today we must choose sides. National Right to Life honored Hyde twice—in 1995 with the Proudly Pro-Life Award, and again in 2006 with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Both awards recognized his leadership within the pro-life movement and his personal dedication to the cause. Hyde also served as honorary chairman of the 1990 Rally for Life, which brought more than a half-million pro-lifers together in Washington. In November, President Bush honored Congressman Hyde with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In presenting the honor, President Bush said that Congressman Hyde “was a gallant champion of the weak and forgotten, and a fearless defender of life in all its seasons.” Perhaps Hyde’s best-remembered commentary on the issue of abortion is this quote: When the time comes as it surely will, when we face that awesome moment, the final judgment, I’ve often thought, as Fulton Sheen wrote, that it is a terrible moment of loneliness. You have no advocates, you are there alone standing before God—and a terror will rip through your soul like nothing you can imagine. But I really think that those in the pro-life movement will not be alone. I think there will be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next world—and they will plead for everyone who has been in this movement. They will say to God, “Spare him because he loved us,”—and God will look at you and say not, “Did you succeed?” but “Did you try?” It is safe to say that Congressman Henry Hyde not only tried to save the most defenseless among us, but that he succeeded on a level of which most can only dream. His efforts, his victories, his leadership, and his friendship are deeply appreciated by the National Right to Life Committee and by pro-life citizens across this nation. “Henry Hyde’s dedication and passion for protecting women and children saved countless lives throughout his distinguished Congressional career. He was truly one of the great statesmen of our time,” Dr. Franz added. |