Note: The 22-min. talk can be heard by clicking on the arrow at the left top of this article (some portions removed for the sake of brevity).
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 31, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The way we approach the legalized killing of unborn children is so pivotal that it determines our outlook for every other issue, said U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) last week.
“[The] life of the unborn is not a sidebar issue. This is it,” Bachmann, mother of five and foster mother of 23, said to applause at the 2011 Rose Dinner following the 38th annual March for Life on Jan 24. “It is the issue that impacts more than any other how you view other issues.”
The pro-life politician echoed the words of theologian Francis Schaeffer, who pegged abortion as “the watershed issue of our time.” “Life comes first, before liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” she said.
The congressman devoted the bulk of her speech to exhorting her listeners to give generously in the service of Christ.
Bachmann has established herself as a leading fiscal conservative – she provided the tea party’s response to President Obama’s State of the Union address last week – as well as a top pro-life voice in Congress since she was elected to her current office in 2006.
Last week’s March for Life saw a record turnout, with as many as 400,000 pro-lifers marching through the streets of Capitol Hill. Many of them, Bachmann noted, were young people – the most noticeably burgeoning contingent in the annual marches.
“The March is 38 years old and growing younger every year,” she said.