Cathy McMorris Rodgers Gives Pro-Life SOTU Response: Children Are a Gift From God

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by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 1/28/14

While President Barack Obama defended Obamacare, which has taxpayer-funding of abortion and has rationed health care already by canceling Americans’ health care plans, Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers gave a compassionate pro-life response.

Rodgers, representing the State of Washington, is another high-profile mother in the political realm, who also chose to give life to her son with Down Syndrome. Cole was born in the spring of 2007. She talked about him when she said that children are a gift from God.

I was single when I was elected – but it wasn’t long before I met Brian, a retired Navy commander, and now we have three beautiful children, one who was born just eight weeks ago. Like all parents, we have high hopes and dreams for our children, but we also know what it’s like to face challenges. Three days after we gave birth to our son, Cole, we got news no parent expects.

Cole was diagnosed with Down syndrome. The doctors told us he could have endless complications, heart defects, even early Alzheimer’s. They told us all the problems. But when we looked at our son, we saw only possibilities. We saw a gift from God.

Today we see a 6-year old boy who dances to Bruce Springsteen; who reads above grade level; and who is the best big brother in the world. We see all the things he can do, not those he can’t. Cole, and his sisters, Grace and Brynn, have only made me more determined to see the potential in every human life – that whether we are born with an extra twenty-first chromosome or without a dollar to our name – we are not defined by our limits, but by our potential.

Tomorrow, I’ll watch my son Cole get on the school bus; others will wait in the doctor’s office or interview for that first job. Some of us will celebrate new beginnings… Others will face great challenges… But all of us will wake up and do what is uniquely American… We will look forward to the boundless potential that lies ahead. We will give thanks to the brave men and women who have answered America’s call to freedom, like Sgt. Jacob Hess from Spokane, who recently gave his life to protect all of ours.

So, tonight, I simply offer a prayer… A prayer for Sgt. Hess’s family, your family, and for our larger American family. That, with the guidance of God, we may prove worthy of His blessings of life … liberty … and the pursuit of happiness. For when we embrace these gifts, we are each doing our part to form a more perfect union. May God guide you and our President, and may God continue to bless the United States of America.

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