TV audiences swell each year for the president’s State of the Union address. This year promises to draw record numbers as the people of the United States look to their commander in chief for briefings on the status of the war on terrorism and on the country’s well being after the events of September 11. Concerned Women for America calls on President Bush to follow in a tradition well established by President Ronald Reagan and use the bully pulpit he has been given to speak for his convictions in defense of human life.
President Reagan had a tradition of addressing efforts to restore protection to unborn children in his State of the Union addresses. We remember his faithfulness to bringing the issue of life to the American public, and we thank him for the many years he stood strongly for life.
State of the Union Address, 1984
“During our first three years, we have joined bipartisan efforts to restore the protection of the law to unborn children. Now, I know this issue is very controversial. But unless and until it can be proven that an unborn child is not a living human being, can we justify assuming without proof that it isn’t? No one has yet offered such proof; indeed, all the evidence is to the contrary. We should rise above bitterness and reproach, and if Americans could come together in a spirit of understanding and helping, then we could find positive solutions to the tragedy of abortion.”
State of the Union Address, 1985
“The question of abortion grips our nation. Abortion is either the taking of a human life or it isn’t. And if it is—and medical technology is increasingly showing it is—it must be stopped. It is a terrible irony that while some turn to abortion, so many others who cannot become parents cry out for children to adopt. We have room for these children. We can fill the cradles of those who want a child to love. And tonight I ask you in the Congress to move this year on legislation to protect the unborn.”
State of the Union Address, 1986
“We are a nation of idealists, yet today there is a wound in our national conscience; America will never be whole as long as the right to life granted by our Creator is denied to the unborn. For the rest of my time, I shall do what I can to see that this wound is one day healed.”
State of the Union Address, 1988
“Well now, we come to a family issue that we must have the courage to confront. Tonight, I call America—a good nation, a moral people—to charitable but realistic consideration of the terrible cost of abortion on demand. To those who say this violates a woman’s right to control of her own body—can they deny that now medical evidence confirms the unborn child is a living human being entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Let us unite as a nation and protect the unborn with legislation that would stop all federal funding for abortion—and with a human life amendment making, of course, an exception where the unborn child threatens the life of the mother. Our Judeo-Christian tradition recognizes the right of taking a life in self-defense. But with that one exception, let us look to those others in our land who cry out for children to adopt. I pledge to you tonight, I will work to remove the barriers to adoption and extend full sharing in family life to millions of Americans, so that children who need homes can be welcomed to families who want them and love them.”
