FROM THE WHITE HOUSE
A Proclamation by the President of the United
States of America
National Sanctity of Human Life Day,
2002
This Nation was founded upon the belief that every human being is
endowed by our Creator with certain "unalienable rights." Chief among them is
the right to life itself. The Signers of the Declaration of Independence pledged
their own lives, fortunes, and honor to guarantee inalienable rights for all of
the new country's citizens. These visionaries recognized that an essential human
dignity attached to all persons by virtue of their very existence and not just
to the strong, the independent, or the healthy. That value should apply to every
American, including the elderly and the unprotected, the weak and the infirm,
and even to the unwanted.
Thomas Jefferson wrote that, "[t]he care of human life and happiness and not
their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government."
President Jefferson was right. Life is an inalienable right, understood as given
to each of us by our Creator.
President Jefferson's timeless principle obligates us to pursue a civil
society that will democratically embrace its essential moral duties, including
defending the elderly, strengthening the weak, protecting the defenseless,
feeding the hungry, and caring for children - born and unborn. Mindful of these
and other obligations, we should join together in pursuit of a more
compassionate society, rejecting the notion that some lives are less worthy of
protection than others, whether because of age or illness, social circumstance
or economic condition. Consistent with the core principles about which Thomas
Jefferson wrote, and to which the Founders subscribed, we should peacefully
commit ourselves to seeking a society that values life -- from its very
beginnings to its natural end. Unborn children should be welcomed in life and
protected in law.
On September 11, we saw clearly that evil exists in this world, and that it
does not value life. The terrible events of that fateful day have given us as a
Nation, a greater understanding about the value and wonder of life. Every
innocent life taken that day was the most important person on earth to somebody;
and every death extinguished a world. Now we are engaged in a fight against evil
and tyranny to preserve and protect life. In so doing, we are standing again for
those core principles upon which our Nation was founded.
Now, therefore, I, George W. Bush, President of the United States of
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the
laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Sunday, January 20, 2002, as
National Sanctity of Human Life Day. I call upon all Americans to reflect upon
the sanctity of human life. Let us recognize the day with appropriate ceremonies
in our homes and places of worship, rededicate ourselves to compassionate
service on behalf of the weak and defenseless, and reaffirm our commitment to
respect the life and dignity of every human being.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eighteenth
day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand two, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-sixth.
George W Bush
