The Babies Need the Dream

By Terry McDermott

It is no coincidence that Dr. King’s name is Martin Luther. In 1521 Martin Luther took a stand like Dr. King did in 1963. And they both, in essence, said, "God help me!" As they both stood up and spoke up for those who could not speak for themselves, I wonder if Dr. King gave his "I Have a Dream" address in 2008, he might say:

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for life in the history of our nation.

144 years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. But 144 years later, the life of the unborn child is still sadly crippled by the manacles and chains of abortion.

So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men and women would be guaranteed the inalienable right of life.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her unborn citizens are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the unborn child a bad check which has come back "insufficient funds." So we have come to cash this check–a check that will give us upon demand the riches of life and the security of justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God’s children!

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the unborn child. 2007 is not an end, but a beginning. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the unborn child is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice for the unborn child emerges.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that all children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by their location inside their mother’s womb, but by the content of their character.

This is our hope. This is our faith. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up and speak up for life and freedom together, knowing that we will be alive and free one day.

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. When we let life and freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all God’s children, born and unborn, black and white, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"