President Bush Speaks to March for Life Participants, Vows to Fight Abortion

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jan 24, 2005   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

President Bush Speaks to March for Life Participants, Vows to Fight Abortion Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 24, 2005

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — President Bush called those marching for life on Monday to thank them for their service and dedication to the pro-life community and vowing to continue fighting against abortion during his second term.

"This movement will not fail," the president told those gathered at the Ellipse for a pre-march rally.

"The strong have a duty to protect the weak," Bush explained. "I appreciate so very much your work toward building a culture of life that will protect the most innocent among us – to promote compassion for women and their unborn babies."

"We know that in a culture that does not protect the most dependent," Bush said during his five minute statement, "the handicapped, the elderly, the unloved or (those who are) simply inconvenient become increasingly vulnerable."

President Bush also touched on the controversial issues of human cloning and embryonic stem cell research and said such issues must be tackled from a pro-life perspective.

"We’re also moving ahead in terms of medicine and research to make sure that the gifts of science are consistent with our highest values of freedom, equality, family and human dignity. We will not sanction the creation of life only to destroy it," Bush said.

The president encouraged marchers to fight not only for pro-life laws, but to change hearts and minds through education and personal contact.

"[W]e’re making progress in Washington … a culture of life cannot be sustained solely by changing laws. We need most of all to change hearts."

"The America of our dreams, where every child is welcomed in life and protected in law, may still be some ways away," he said. "But even from the far side of the river … we can see its glimmerings."

"This is the path of the culture of life that we seek for our country," Bush said by phone from Camp David.

President Bush pointed to the pro-life laws he has signed during his first term, including the ban on partial-birth abortions, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act and a bill to make sure babies who survive botched abortions receive appropriate medical care.