Jeff Fortenberry: “I thank Congressman Smith, not only for his tireless leadership, but his compassionate, passionate voice on behalf of…”

“I thank Congressman Smith, not only for his tireless leadership, but his compassionate, passionate voice on behalf of women, saying loudly and clearly, consistently, over the time he has been in Congress, that women deserve better. Madam Speaker, we live in an age of contradiction. We say that we want peace. We say that we want joy. We say that we want happiness, that we ought to be living in a good and authentic, committed community, and that we ought to uphold the noble ideal of human dignity. But we have to ask some difficult questions. We have to ask why. Why, in this age of material plenty, is life expectancy in America declining? Why, in this age of vast and accelerating scientific discovery and technological innovation, is the world still screaming for meaning? Why? Could it be that we have to be brave enough, that we have to be bold enough, to look and confront our own contradictions? We say we want community, but do we really care? We say we want justice, but with certain exceptions. We say we want liberty for all but, really, only for our own perspective. Madam Speaker, the reality is, life is hard. Life can be brutal. Life can sometimes be very unfair. {time} 1430 The reality is we have to face this together. This is why the demands of community, the demands of justice, the demands of compassion, the demands of liberty say to the woman, no matter how hard the circumstances, what a gift you are and what a gift the unborn life is within you.…”