Earlier this afternoon, Speaker Boehner delivered opening remarks at the 39th annual March for Life on the National Mall (PHOTO).  Here’s an excerpt: 

“I’m from what you might call a big family … I’ve got 11 brothers and sisters.  It wasn’t easy for my mother to have 12 children.  But I’m sure glad she did. Respect for life, at every stage, was instilled in us early on. … So I’ve never considered ‘pro-life’ to be a label or a position.  It’s just who I am.  It’s who I am, and it’s who we are as a people. If you’re like me, when you climb the steps on the other side of the Tidal Basin, you’re awed by Jefferson’s immortal words: ‘God who gave us life gave us liberty.’’ These two founding principles, life and liberty, are intertwined.  Together, they form the core of our national character.  They comprise the standard by which the world looks to us.  When we affirm the dignity of life, we affirm our commitment to freedom.  When we don’t affirm life … when life is cheapened or weakened, here or abroad, freedom itself is diminished. … America is an idea, and our duty is to preserve its blessings, the first and dearest of which is life.”