Griffin At March for Life: “Life Is A Gift From God”

A gray, cold misty Sunday afternoon did not deter around one thousand pro-life supporters from turning out at the Arkansas State Capitol for the 34th annual March for Life. Organized each year by the Arkansas Right to Life, the event marks the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in all 50 states.

“If we are going to ban public funding of abortion in ObamaCare, if we are going to ban webcam abortions, ban abortion on unborn children who are capable of feeling pain, it is going to take our work,” said Wayne Mays, Arkansas Right to Life President. “So for the 34th consecutive year, we are here to show Arkansas and the nation that we really do care about this issue and that we are going to stay here until abortion is no longer legal.”

“We believe the real separation in our country is between conscience and courage, between fact and fiction,” said featured speaker Jean Garton, author of Who Broke the Baby?. “There are two Americas but they are split over whether morality matters, whether truth matters.”

Garton also offered some tough words for President Obama, who said that the issue of when life begins is above his pay grade.

“What do they teach them at Harvard?”asked Garton. “Every guy who has ever bought a package of condoms knows when life begins.”

“I am a proud pro-life member of Congress and I am here with you today because of what we all know to be true – human life did not just happen,” said Congressman Tim Griffin. “Human life is a gift from God. Human life is sacred. Human life must be protected.”

Griffin highlighted several pieces of pro-life legislation he has supported included a bill that will be introduced Monday that will ban abortions after 20 weeks in the District of Columbia (where Congress has jurisdiction). The measure is similar to the measure introduced by Rep. Andy Mayberry in 2010 in Arkansas – the Unborn Child Pain Capable Protection Act. This bill died in the House Public Health Committee chaired by Rep. Linda Tyler.

Mayberry told me after the March that he is hopeful the bill can pass in the 2013 legislative session after this year’s elections.

“Given the current medical evidence, is there any other conclusion that we can come to but that abortion is an inhuman, barbaric attack against a defenseless human being and that the right to choose is a politically correct nice way 0f covering up a violent torturous death?” asked Garton.

In addition to Griffin, in attendance at the March were former Arkansas first lady Janet Huckabee, Land Commissioner John Thurston, State Senators Gilbert Baker and Eddie Joe Williams, State Representatives Ann Clemmer, Kim Hammer, Donna Hutchinson, Andy Mayberry, Allen Kerr, David Meeks, Stephen Meeks, David Sanders, Tim Summers, Jon Eubanks, Loy Mauch, Duncan Baird, Bruce Westerman, and House Minority Leader John Burris.

Republican candidates for the Fourth Congressional District Tom Cotton and Beth Anne Rankin were also in attendance along with former Congressman Jay Dickey.

A big tip of the hat goes to the one Arkansas Democratic-elected official who attended:  State Rep. Homer Lenderman.