I testified today before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, speaking to the importance of authentic individual freedoms. I addressed what I believe is the greatest threat to individual freedoms in a post-Roe America, namely the risk that abortion violence will continue to be perpetuated as a way to control American women and dominate America’s most vulnerable preborn children.
Spoken Testimony
I come before you honored to speak for all Americans who value human life. For every mom and dad, every family, every young person, every person, who has fought to advance the human right to life.
We survived Roe v. Wade, but Roe did not survive us. We’re now living in a post-Roe America.
What comes next?
The twilight of Roe, tragically, does not yet mean the dawn of a truly pro-life America.
The greatest threat to individual freedoms in a post-Roe world remains the reality that some would elevate their desire to kill over and against the natural right of each and every one of us to live.
In a post-Roe world, all of us have incredible opportunities to proclaim that there is no liberty without life, without the freedom simply to be.
Roe was extreme, but the pro-abortion lawmakers who called today’s hearing, and the pro-abortion witnesses who now surround me, want a future more extreme than even Roe made possible.
Abortion money and abortion special interests continue to wield deadly power in Washington. Today’s hearing is a testament to the menace of abortion’s power brokers.
Worse, abortion activists post-Roe are now telling us that now—now, in this incredible moment when lawmakers can finally uphold the human right to life—now that we might finally have the freedom to live, that it’s now that all our other freedoms are somehow at risk.
It’s hysteria. It’s nonsense. It’s just not true. Anyone who has read the Dobbs decision could tell you that.
But there’s good news—we can do better. It’s in our nature as Americans to do better.
Elizabeth Bruenig, writing in The Atlantic just a few days ago, challenges us to make birth free for all Americans. I agree with her: pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care should all be free for all mothers.
That’s what today’s hearing should be about: how to serve American mothers, fathers, and families. Let’s have a hearing about that.
Republicans boldly and courageously led the expansion of maternal and prenatal care during the Reagan era. There’s truly no reason why making birth free for Americans can’t be the bipartisan work of our time—the defining work of a Congress or a presidency.
Instead, even in this post-Roe world, some in Congress see fit to focus our attention on how to expand the killing power of the state.
I know, from my own experience of forced abortion, the traumatic consequences of abortion violence. I was hurt by abortion. My first child never lived to take her first breath because of abortion. It remains a scandal that any American state remains neutral on abortion, that any American state condones or celebrates abortion violence.
I was failed by America’s experiment with abortion during the Roe era. But out of that trauma, eventually, came clarity: my vocation, my life’s work as a constitutional attorney, and as a human rights advocate.
As President & CEO of Americans United for Life, I’ve been so honored to travel the states and meet people of all ages, backgrounds, and beliefs. Americans who are united by their commitment to protecting our first and most intimate individual freedom: to live.
We know what pro-abortion activists want: unrestricted abortion, available always and everywhere. Every “individual freedom” we hear about today starts, in their minds, with the freedom to kill. But there is no such freedom.
Abortion activism requires first dehumanizing our most vulnerable sisters and brothers, and then hardening our hearts to the holistic challenges of living and thriving together.
Contrary to what you may have heard, this life of ours is not a zero-sum game—no one needs to lose for others to win. We can only enjoy our authentic freedoms by living with a spirit of love, with solidarity, and with hospitality.
The truth is, living and thriving together is hard. Killing is easy. But as the most prosperous, most powerful, most free nation in history, it is our responsibility to do the right thing with the gifts we have—not because it’s easy, but because it is hard.
The common good of this American republic depends on rediscovering what we once knew: that “America will be great if America is good. If not, her greatness will vanish away like a morning cloud.”
Let’s be good to one another.
Let’s be better. Let’s heal. Let’s grow.
Thank you.
